BERLIN — Volkswagen’s board appointed the head of its Porsche unit as CEO on Friday, handing longtime company insider Matthias Mueller the task of trying to lead the world’s top-selling automaker past the emissions scandal.

The company also said it was suspending some employees and would reorganize its North America operations after admitting it used a piece of engine software to cheat on diesel car emissions tests in the U.S.

The decisions come after the previous CEO, Martin Winterkorn, quit the job this week over the scandal, which has shredded the company’s reputation.

The company could be heavily fined and hit with class-action lawsuits costing billions. It will also have to fix programming it has said is in some 11 million cars, far more than the 482,000 identified last week by U.S. authorities.

The 62-year-old Mueller, who has spent his career with VW brands, acknowledged that he was taking the job “at a time in which our company faces unprecedented challenges.”