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Dieselgate Scandal Prompts Bavaria to Sue the Volkswagen Group

The Dieselgate mess-up is far from over. Apparently, Audi helmsman Rupert Stadler didn’t get the memo before he planned he planned a wild beer party in the city of Wolfsburg.
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Now, though, it has come to our attention that the German state of Bavaria, the home of BMW, will not let the Dieselgate scandal slide so easily. A recently published report from Automotive News Europe highlights that Bavaria’s state pension fund for civil servants “lost as much as €700,000 ($783,580) after VW shares plunged in the wake of the Sept.18 announcement by U.S. regulators that VW had rigged diesel engines to lower NOx pollution.”

In this regard, Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder told German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur the following: “We want this money back.” Now try to guess how Mr. Soeder will try to get those €700,000 back into the coffer. Indeed, the regional government of Bavaria will take legal action against the Volkswagen Group. Incidentally, the regional court of Brunswick is not too far away from Wolfsburg, the stomping ground of Volkswagen.

If you allow me to put my serious face on, this is not good news for the Volkswagen Group because it creates a precedent. If Bavaria becomes the first German state to sue VW over the Dieselgate screw-up, then I am afraid that the remaining 15 states are prone to follow in Bavaria’s footsteps.

Furthermore, this bit of news from the domestic market of VW couldn’t have come at a worse time for the automaker. Not only has South Korea suspended the sale of 32 Volkswagen Group models, but the profit of Porsche SE has dropped approximately 41 percent on lower earnings in the first half of the year. And yes, Porsche SE is that entity which owns 31.5 percent of Volkswagen AG shares and 50.7 percent of voting rights (a.k.a the majority).

According to the holding company, the slump is “primarily due to expenses and income as well as dividend payments recognized directly in equity.”
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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