VW’s government shareholder did not want to back top bosses

Volkswagen shareholder Lower Saxony wanted to withhold its backing for the carmaker’s top management at a supervisory board meeting but relented to avoid further damaging the firm, a source close to the German federal state said.

Representatives of the Lower Saxony government, which has a 20% stake in VW, raised their objections last week when the supervisory board debated whether to endorse the managers’ actions in 2015 — the year the company was engulfed in a scandal over the rigging of US emissions tests.

However, they backed off following a plea from Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch, fearing their stand would be seen as a vote of no-confidence vote in VW’s leadership, the source told Reuters.