Volkswagen cheatd on diesel emissions, faces $ 18 billion fine

[Crazy_Ivan80]

To me the most damaging thing is the fact that they cannot be trusted. If they blatantly cheat like this you have to assume that they cheat regarding anything and everything. That's just basic safety precautions.

Agreed.  Around here Volkswagen products are marketed as engineering you can rely on.   So much for that.

The damage to the brand will be massive.

they survived WW2, they'll survive this.

[Malthus]

To me the most damaging thing is the fact that they cannot be trusted. If they blatantly cheat like this you have to assume that they cheat regarding anything and everything. That's just basic safety precautions.

Agreed.  Around here Volkswagen products are marketed as engineering you can rely on.   So much for that.

The damage to the brand will be massive.

they survived WW2, they'll survive this.

The VW Beetle was the only car actually designed to Hitler's specifications.  Now, there's a celebrity endorsement!

[crazy canuck]

And the class action law suits have started to be filed.

It's a class action made in heaven for plaintiff side class action firms.

Yep, this is exactly the kind of case the class action statutes were meant to address.  The biggest challenge will be the fight between plaintiff firms as to who should be entitled to the payday represent the class in each jurisdiction.

[Zanza]

Read an interesting article yesterday that mentioned cheating may be more common than we know, because the NO2 levels also correlate with MPG, so they might have been caught between a rock and a hard place in terms of cheating on MPG or cheating on NO2.

That's especially acute with heavy trucks. The emission standards are so hard to fulfill these days that the exhaust cleaning system is more expensive than the actual engine.

[Zanza]

Volkswagen will book 7.2 billion dollar as provision in their next quarterly balance sheet.

Up to 11 million cars worldwide have the software, so the 500,000 in the US are just the tip of the iceberg.

German press expects that the CEO will have to resign in the next days.

[DGuller]

Poor guy.  He just managed to win the power struggle and oust Ferdinand Piech himself from the company, and now before he can even enjoy his victory he's shown the door.

[Zanza]

The NGO that gave EPA the tip about this has apparently found discrepancies with other car manufacturers as well. 

The EU commission had an internal paper that identified this type of software as a potential problem, so they probably know car manufacturers use it, but either looked the other way or couldn't prove it yet.

[DGuller]

The NGO that gave EPA the tip about this has apparently found discrepancies with other car manufacturers as well. 

[Malthus]

The NGO that gave EPA the tip about this has apparently found discrepancies with other car manufacturers as well. 

The EU commission had an internal paper that identified this type of software as a potential problem, so they probably know car manufacturers use it, but either looked the other way or couldn't prove it yet.

Heh stands to reason - if VW can't make a vehicle that can work without cheating, it's a bet other manufacturers have trouble as well.

[Zanza]

The car actually works as specified however they disabled the exhaust cleaning systems for two reasons during normal driving: a) higher performance and less fuel consumption and b) for cars with an urea-based exhaust cleaning system you need to fill in the urea and in older cars that could only be done at a dealer, and even for newer cars it's rather acidic so it can damage the paint of the car if the customer does it wrong and gas stations in the US often do not offer it.

[Zanza]

I wonder if I should buy some VW stocks now. They lost about 19% on Monday and another 19% today for a combined 30 billion euro market capitalization. It's still a viable company, so I guess these corrections are over the top.

[Malthus]

The car actually works as specified however they disabled the exhaust cleaning systems for two reasons during normal driving: a) higher performance and less fuel consumption and b) for cars with an urea-based exhaust cleaning system you need to fill in the urea and in older cars that could only be done at a dealer, and even for newer cars it's rather acidic so it can damage the paint of the car if the customer does it wrong and gas stations in the US often do not offer it.

If it doesn't work during normal driving, giving both the expected performance and fuel efficiency on the one hand and emissions that pass regulatory muster on the other, it doesn't work "as specified".

I expect this argument to be front and centre in the plethora of class actions being filed as we type. 

[Eddie Teach]

I wonder if I should buy some VW stocks now.

That would be disloyal.

[Syt]

I wonder if I should buy some VW stocks now.

Does your employer allow that or would it be conflict of interest?

[DGuller]

I thought Zanza no longer worked at MB?  Or am I imagining things?