Martin Winterkorn stepped down as chief executive of Volkswagen, bowing to mounting pressure over an emissions scandal that has wiped more than 30 per cent off the company’s share price since Monday and sent tremors through the European car industry.

迫于不断增加的排放丑闻压力，文德恩(Martin Winterkorn)辞去了大众汽车(Volkswagen)首席执行官一职。自周一以来，这场丑闻令大众股价蒸发了30%以上，还震撼了欧洲汽车业。

“Volkswagen needs a fresh start,” Mr Winterkorn said in a statement. “I am clearing the way for this with my resignation.” He said he was standing down “in the interests of the company, although I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part”.

文德恩在一份声明中表示：“大众需要一个新的开始。我将以辞职来为此扫清障碍。”文德恩表示自己的退出是“为了公司的利益，尽管我不知道自己的行为有任何不当之处。”

The highest paid boss at a listed German company, Mr Winterkorn, 68, was credited with turning Volkswagen into a global giant that rivalled Toyota and General Motors. But he was ultimately confounded by the worst scandal in the company’s 78-year history.

现年68岁的文德恩是薪酬最高的德国上市企业老板，曾被誉为将大众转变成了一家可与丰田(Toyota)和通用汽车(General Motors)匹敌的全球巨头。但最终他被这桩大众78年历史上最糟糕的丑闻搞得狼狈不堪。

VW has been reeling ever since the US Environmental Protection Agency revealed that the company had fitted its diesel vehicles with software that could be used to manipulate emissions tests, and demanded the recall of nearly 500,000 VW cars.

自从美国国家环境保护局(Environmental Protection Agency)揭露大众在柴油车上安装了可以用来操纵排放测试的软件、并要求召回近50万辆大众汽车以来，该公司一直处于震惊状态。

The carmaker later announced that up to 11m of its vehicles worldwide could be affected and said it had set aide 6.5bn to cover potential costs.

这家汽车制造商随后宣布，全球而言可能有多达1100万辆大众汽车受影响，并表示已预留65亿欧元用于覆盖潜在成本。

The scandal reverberated across the global car industry, dragging down the shares of US, French and German carmakers and raising questions about the future of diesel technology.

这一丑闻在全球汽车业引发冲击波，拖累了美国、法国和德国汽车制造商的股票，并对柴油技术的未来提出质疑。

Yesterday, prosecutors in Lower Saxony, the German state where VW is based, said they were weighing a preliminary investigation into certain employees at the company.

昨天，大众总部所在的德国下萨克森州的检察官表示，他们在考虑对该公司某些雇员展开初步调查。