After a turbulent last few, German car manufacturer Volkswagen has appointed a new chief executive in the hope of reorganising its many brands and targeting China, its largest market.

The new man in charge, Herbert Diess, will take responsibility for the entire company, after previously being in charge of the VW brand. Diess replaces Matthias Mueller, a man who was appointed in 2015 amidst diesel emission scandals, but who has more recently been making enemies by cutting costs at Volkswagen, which infuriated the German trade unions.

The top level move is a signal of intent from Volkswagen as they look to move forward from scandal and address a global market which has eclipsed the German car maker in many respects.

The move had been rumoured to be on the cards for a number of weeks, but in a statement, Volkswagen paid tribute to a man who was brought in from Porsche during the negative publicity of the emissions scandal.

A statement said: "He assumed the chairmanship of the board of management in the fall of 2015 when the company faced the greatest challenge in its history.

"Not only did he safely navigate Volkswagen through that time, together with his team, he also fundamentally realigned the group's strategy."

Despite restructuring the company, Mueller grabbed his own headlines when prosecutors announced that even he was under investigation over suspicions he may have known about the diesel cheating before it became public.

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