FRANKFURT (Reuters) -- Germany's ADAC car club is likely to scrap its annual "Yellow Angel" car award after admitting it had falsified this year's results.
ADAC's communications director, Michael Ramstetter, resigned after conceding he manipulated the results of the car club's coveted award for Germany's favorite car, which was won last week by the Volkswagen Golf.
"Does the Yellow Angel have a future? No, absolutely not. It has no future," ADAC president Peter Meyer told Germany's Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe, on Wednesday.
The ADAC is Europe's largest and most influential car club. It confirmed the interview but said there had not been a decision about the future of the award.
The disclosure struck at the core of the organization's credibility and critics have raised questions about its car safety tests.
The ADAC has over 18 million members. Its Yellow Angel award can give a boost to sales in a competitive domestic market though it carries little weight outside Germany.
The club has conceded that Ramstetter massively inflated the results of votes, saying 34,299 motorists had voted for the Golf as Germany's favorite car when it had only been 3,409 votes.
