The fuel emissions crisis and the family behind Volkswagen AG

Stephanie Baker looks at the complicated family behind automaker Volkswagen AG, which has been at the centre of a diesel emissions scandal, and the possibility of future leadership within it

AS THE diesel emissions scandal roiled Volkswagen AG last August, Wolfgang Porsche — the elder statesman of the clan that controls the carmaker — did what he does every autumn. He put on his boots, picked up his rifle, and went deer hunting near the half-timbered Austrian farmhouse where he spent his childhood.

As he has almost every year for decades, Porsche trekked through the woods above the blue waters of Lake Zell and dined at Schloss Prielau, a 16th-century stone castle he transformed into a luxury hotel.