About two weeks after Volkswagen admitted behind closed doors to US environmental regulators that it had installed cheating software in some 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide, the Environmental Protection Agency shared that information with the public. It was September 18, 2015. The ensuing crisis would eventually take a few unexpected turns.

Volkswagen's then-CEO Martin Winterkorn (above) had little choice but to step down several days after news of the scandal broke. In September 2015, he tendered his resignation, but retained his other posts within the Volkswagen Group. Winterkorn's successor was Matthias Müller. Until taking the reins at VW, Müller had been the chairman at Porsche, a VW subsidiary.

Regulators in the US weren't the only ones investigating VW. Authorities in Lower Saxony, the German state in which VW is based, were also scrutinizing the company. On October 8 2015, state prosecutors raided VW's headquarters along with several other corporate locations.

On January 4, 2016, the US government filed a lawsuit against VW in Detroit, accusing the German automaker of fraud and violations of American climate protection regulations. The lawsuit sought up to $46 billion for violations of the Clean Air Act.

In March 2016, the head of VW in the US, Michael Horn, resigned. In the initial days and weeks after the scandal broke, he was the one US authorities turned to for information. He issued an official apology on behalf of the automaker, asking for the public's forgiveness.

On October 25 2016, a US judge approved a final settlement that would have VW pay $15.3 billion. In addition, affected cars would be retrofitted with better, non-deceptive hardware and software, or else VW would buy them back completely from customers.

When dieselgate first emerged in 2015, analysts said it was likely other car makers were also cheating tests. But it wasn't until 2017 that other companies were targeted in probes. In July, German authorities launched investigations into luxury car makers Porsche and Daimler for allegedly cheating emissions tests. Others, such as Audi and Chrysler, have also been hit by similar allegations.

Despite dieselgate, VW has managed to keep the emissions scandal from utterly tarnishing its image. According to several polls, between 55 to 67 percent of Germans continue to trust the automaker. In the US, polls show that roughly 50 percent still believe the German company produces worthwhile vehicles.

In late January, however, VW suffered another heavy blow over reports that the company experimented on monkeys and made the animals inhale diesel fumes. To make matters worse, a separate experiment that had humans inhale relatively harmless nitrogen dioxide was revealed at the same time. Some media wrongly interpreted this to mean humans were also inhaling toxic fumes.

Years after the scandal that caused Volkswagen to pay CAN$2.4 billion (US$1.83 billion), a court in Toronto order a further fine of CAN$196.5 million. Volkswagen pleaded guilty of violating in environmental laws. Prosecutor Tom Lemon noted that the fine was "26 times the highest fine ever for a Canadian environmental offence."

A cult brand is born: On June 8, 1948, the 356 No. 1 Roadster received its operating permit. It was the first vehicle to wear the name Porsche. 50 years later, that car was damaged when it fell off a plane pallet. Luckily, it survived the drop from a height of several meters. Today, the refurbished Roadster can be admired in the Porsche museum in Stuttgart.

...Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, nicknamed Ferry. Without him, neither the 356 nor the 911 would exist. Over five decades, Ferry shaped the sports carmaker as CEO and chairman. His father, Ferdinand Porsche, also built vehicles — for Volkswagen. Ferdinand's biggest task was to develop the predecessor of the VW Beetle, which Hitler thought would mobilize the masses.

The first Porsche was presented to the public only a few years after World War II. Needless to say, sports cars weren't exaclty what people needed in those trying times. Over the years, however, Ferry Porsche and his brand were able to assert themselves. "We build cars which nobody needs, but everybody wants," he said.

It took Porsche almost half a century to sell 1 million sports cars. from then on, though, production accelerated rapidly: The latest million Porsches didn't even take five years to leave showrooms. In 2017 alone, more than a quarter million vehicles left the assembly lines, and over the last decade, Porsche sales have more than tripled.

In the mid-2000s, the small carmaker tried to hit it big by attempting to take over Germany's Volkswagen giant. The plan, however, didn't pan out. Today, a holding company called Porsche SE owns the majority of VW, while Porsche Corporation, which builds the cars, was incorporated into the VW Group.

For decades, Porsche cars relied on diesel engines. That changed with the rise of SUVs, which also had diesel models fitted with engines from VW brand Audi. This is how Porsche, too, was sucked into the dieselgate scandal.

Former VW bosses Matthias Müller (left) and Martin Winterkorn were suspected of fraud and market manipulation as share holders of Porsche SE Holding were allegedly informed too late about the pollution scandal. Porsche SE is a holding company of the Porsche and Piëch families who together hold 52.2 percent of voting rights of VW's ordinary shares.

Porsche's first electric model is to hit the market in 2019, with a range of more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) and fast-loading capability — at least that's what the sports carmaker has promised. Further models are expected to follow, also in cooporation with VW Group brand Audi. Porsche wants to invest €6 billion ($7 billion) in e-mobility by 2022,

Porsche expects 2018 to be another record-breaking year in terms of sales. After all, more and more people seem to share Walter Röhrl's sentiment: The legendary German rally driver once called a garage without a Porsche 911 a "dull, empty hole."