From behind the NYTimes’ paywall:
What could they possibly be thinking?
Morally they’re utterly reprehensible.
But it’s arguably the case that emissions cheats are completely legal under the letter of EU law. Said another way, the auto industry lobbyists in Brussels spent a lot of money buying that loophole and now VW intends to collect on its investment.
The US also has much more of an anti-coverup culture than most of Europe. “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up” is a catchphrase in American politics that’s borderline incomprehensible to many Europeans. I blame the damn Puritans.
Under EU rules, do the individual countries retain their own laws and regs?
If VW is so damned certain that they can beat the Brussels rules, do they risk pissing off national regulators?
Especially UK, which did not join the monetary union; did they retain more regulatory autonomy as well?
Back in the 60’s I heard/saw a bit that it was only a defective fuse on a 750 lb bomb that kept VW alive - an unexploded bomb was found in the power room of the factory.
Maybe we can get a do-over on that…
mods: this is a joke. I do not advocate bombing Germany.
for now…
What’s the German word for horseshit?
EPA had been noting discrepancies between test cell results and road test results, and VW kept providing lame excuses, snow jobs and stonewalling. VW didn’t come clean until EPA threatened to withhold compliance certification for their MY2016 vehicles. A company that genuinely misinterprets the law will happily explain what they’re up to and then say “why, what’s the big deal?” Their actions - obscuring the problem, and only laying it all on the table when threatened with sanctions - are only consistent with a company that made a deliberate choice to cheat and knew full well that what they were doing was cheating.
From article behind the NYTimes paywall:
[QUOTE=NYTimes]
The head of Volkswagen’s American operations, a central figure in the carmaker’s effort to repair relations with dealers and customers after an emissions scandal, unexpectedly stepped down on Wednesday.
The sudden departure of the executive, Michael Horn, adds to the strategic uncertainty for Volkswagen, particularly in the United States, where sales have been plummeting and dealers have been grumbling.
[/QUOTE]
So it continues. I have also heard that the U.S. class action suit is getting more organized to go forward.
“You mean our cars are supposed to perform the same on the road as they do in these tests?? No one told us!”
Yes and no to both. If you want to sell a car in the EU, you will probably need European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval. However, if you just want to sell a small number of vehicles in one EU member state, you can get limited national approval (which other EU members or any other states have the option of accepting for their own market). For example, in the UK the government will award what it calls National Small Series Type Approval, for strictly limited series production for the UK market. Most kit car manufacturers do this since the kit car industry is fairly regional.
So, if I get an EC Whole Vehicle Type cert for my NO[sub]x[/sub]-spewing “Clean Diesel”, can a member state still prohibit its sale?
Or do the EC regs trump the national ones?
EU regs trump the national ones.
Michael Horn was the CEO of VW’s US subsidiary. On the automotive websites I follow, there was a surprising amount of sympathy for him. There seems to be a widespread feeling that he was stuck in a bad place, unable to do what he needed to because his bosses across the pond keep stalling while they hope to find a cheap way out of this. He probably quit out of disgust.
I’d be interested to know how many VW owners are interested in having their cars “fixed”.
VW: We are very sorry and we would like to take your car and fix it.
Owner: Ok, and what will that involve?
VW: We will do a modification that will lower the power output of the engine while making it cleaner.
Owner: It already seems pretty clean, it doesn’t blow black smoke like a bus or anything.
VW: Yes we know, but it is not clean enough by US standards.
Owner: So how does this benefit me?
VW: Well, you will feel good about yourself because your car will be cleaner.
Owner: Ok, I know I SHOULD be concerned about this, but I’m having trouble mustering the energy. Do I have to have it “fixed”?
VW: Your future generations will thank you…
Owner: Will they, really?
As long as the “fix” comes with a sizeable cash payment to offset for their cars’ greatly reduced resale values I’m sure most owners will be happy to be fixed.
If not I think your prediction is spot-on.
I’m rapidly losing any interest in keeping my TDI beyond the minimum amount of time it takes me not to get totally fleeced because of VW’s fraud. Even if it were fixed with no performance impact, and I got another couple grand in compensation, I’d still want to dump the car as soon as I realistically can.
When Michael Horn and Ken Feinberg spoke months ago about making the situation right, I had a totally different opinion. I had thought about replacing the car with another VW if they offered a generous trade-in offer, like maybe like an e-Golf if they can improve the range.
But since then, the corporate leadership has eliminated any faith I had in VW to try to make a fair offer to victims of their fraud. Every time they open their mouth, it gets worse. If only Horn and Feinberg would be the actual spokesmen for VW on this issue, I probably would have more patience. But I’m totally done with this car company. Screw them.
In my opinion anything less than a buyback at a pre-Dieselgate value with no conditions is a failure by VW. By conditions I mean no “if you buy another VW,” no “here’s a gift card usable only at VW dealerships.” I don’t want another VW, I don’t want the one I have now.
[QUOTE=NYTimes]
A former Volkswagen employee has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit in Michigan, asserting that co-workers illegally deleted electronic data shortly after the United States government accused the carmaker of cheating on emissions tests.
The former employee, Daniel Donovan, who according to the lawsuit worked as an information manager in an Auburn Hills, Mich., office overseen by Volkswagen’s in-house lawyer, says he was fired in December because his superiors believed that he was about to report the company to the American authorities for obstruction of justice.
[/QUOTE]
It just keeps getting better. :smack:
As I read stuff about this story, I sometimes think huge fines will be paid, people will go to jail, VW will exit the US market or even go under. Then I remember the mortgage crisis. Impressive-sounding but easily affordable fines are the most that will happen.
it all depends on the agency (or agencies) who have jurisdiction over the matter. People are still whining about how GM “got away scot free” on their ignition switches (they didn’t) while the mean ol’ gummit won’t leave VW alone. The difference is that NHTSA had jurisdiction over the GM problem ('cos that is the agency’s name, "National Highway/Traffic Safety administration, which is under the Dept. of Transportation) while the VW problem is under the EPA’s rule. NHTSA’s fine structure is completely different than the EPA’s. The EPA’s maximum fine is $37,000 per violation per day the violation exists. For a typical environmental foul up (say, a company has a chemical spill and contaminates the land) they can be fined $37,500 per day until it’s cleaned up.
The numbers bandied about with VW are so big because they have 500,000 individual violations out there on the road, all of them still not cleaned up. It’s highly unlikely they’ll be fined the maximum possible amount. but IMO the longer they hem & haw and stonewall everyone, the bigger it will actually get.
As for jail time, it’s not unheard of for execs to be jailed. There have been a couple of price-fixing actions taken against auto parts suppliers recently, and a few execs of the involved companies were sent to prison.
Believe me, I can see this play out with a wrist-slap. But given the proof and admission of a lie, at least in the U.S., it seems like a materially different situation vs. the economic melt-down. We know a class action suit is being organized - something that never got traction in Finance. So in this case, even if a criminal suit is minimized, there is the civil case.
Nobody from HSBC went to prison. VW is more akin to a giant bank then a relatively small auto parts manufacturer/distributor.
OK, jz78817 and WordMan have me convinced that a meaningful price will be paid by VW. Thanks.