Top 44 Quotes & Sayings by Martin Winterkorn

Regardless of whether we are in an upturn or a downturn, our goal is to ensure the Volkswagen Group reaches the top of the automotive industry.

If you want to be promoted into the first league of carmakers, then you can't just follow suit.

There are always opportunities one cannot pass up.

When a customer sits inside the car, then they have to have the feeling that it's an Audi - whether it's the leatherwork or the bodywork. All these things must be typically Audi.

Politicians are fond of criticizing others.

The violations of these diesel motors by our company go against everything that Volkswagen stands for... at this time, I don't yet have the answers to all the questions. I'm utterly sorry that we have damaged trust in this way. I offer my deepest apologies to our customers, the authorities, and to the public at large for our misconduct.

Volkswagen has been, is, and will always be my life.

Combining their operating business will make Volkswagen and Porsche even stronger - both financially and strategically - going forward.

As CEO, I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the Supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group.

I clearly say yes to Big Data, yes to greater security and convenience, but no to paternalism and Big Brother.'

Volkswagen must continue to attack and make good use of its opportunities.

I have always been driven by the ambition to solve every problem I face, whether as a scientist, engineer or entrepreneur.

Americans are as they are. We have to accept this. Lots of Europeans forget that.

The hybrid engine costs a lot of money, and customers are hardly willing to spend so much more for a car.

The European auto industry made a commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 140 grams per kilometer. But then there was a significant change in what customers wanted in their vehicles.

The Volkswagen Group offers the world's largest low-CO2 fleet.

It is important to exhaust the potential of existing markets. But it is equally important to open up new markets.

Audi has fewer problems with electronics than any other company.

I would like to thank Wolfgang Schreiber for his successful work with Bentley and Bugatti and the consistent further development of the two brands.

2008 was a good - a very successful year for Volkswagen.

People who, like me, grew up in the 1950s and 1960s after World War II, grew up with cars.

Growth in the Chinese automobile market has exceeded everyone's expectations.

The U.S. market has the highest priority for Volkswagen.

MoMA is one of the world's most admired cultural institutions.

The Volkswagen Group has proved that it can remain firmly on track even when the terrain is slippery.

The two inventions of the century, the car and the computer, are gradually coming closer together.

Taking the third step before the first would be fatal.

The United States will remain one of the most important markets for VW.

The integrated automotive group of Volkswagen and Porsche is a certainty.

VW grows with the challenges. We continue to do, even when times are tough.

I am an emotional person, and soccer is sheer emotion. For me, it is the best way to unwind.

India is and will remain an important strategic growth market for the Volkswagen Group. We are convinced that VW will take on a key role in the Indian automobile market in the long-term.

We want to be the volume number one, but also we want to have 8 percent in operating profit.

We procrastinated in the U.S., it's true. And we are changing that.

VW's future is increasingly being decided in China, Russia, India, the Americas and Southeast Asia. This is where we will generate most of our growth in future.

The automotive year 2013 was, especially for European car makers, extremely challenging.

The US will always be an enormous automobile market. You're lost without a car there.

The government cannot become a bailout organization for companies on the verge of bankruptcy.

The tough competition among German manufacturers makes us fundamentally strong.

People act as though the hybrid could solve all of our problems - which is certainly not the case.

Russia has the largest reserves of natural resources, including iron and natural gas. The market will develop in the long term, and the VW Group will benefit from it.

It's important to see things in perspective. Automobile traffic is responsible for only 12 percent of total CO2 emissions. One should be able to point this out without being accused of changing the subject.

Bentley and Lamborghini have been achieving record sales for years. This doesn't support the notion that these models are suddenly social pariahs. There will always be a place for these kinds of cars.

My goal is not to eliminate jobs but to secure jobs by increasing production volume.