BERLIN — The future of Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn hung in the balance today as the company sought to contain the damage of an emissions-rigging scandal that could lead to fines and lawsuits against the carmaker.

After falling by over a quarter in two days since the revelation VW had been trying to dupe U.S. testers for its diesel cars, the company’s share price recovered modestly.

So far, no one is known to have lost their job over the scandal that’s been raging round the company since the Environmental Protection Agency disclosed the company’s misdemeanors last Friday.

The person facing the most acute pressure is Winterkorn, whose contract was scheduled to be extended by two years through 2018 at a meeting this Friday of the supervisory board.

But the events of recent days have raised questions over his future. German media were widely reporting that the board’s executive committee was meeting today to discuss the crisis.

The Environmental Protection Agency has said Volkswagen AG could face fines of as much as $18 billion. Other countries, such as South Korea, have also ordered investigations into emission levels of VW cars and some law firms in North America have filed class-action suits.

On Tuesday, Volkswagen said 11 million of its vehicles worldwide contained the so-called “defeat device” that allowed the cars to beat the testers.