As I said a couple of days ago when news of the EPA opening an investigation into Volkswagen's TDI engines broke out, this has the makings of the biggest scandal of 2015. It already has a name, Dieselgate. And proving that it's no minor thing, even President Obama has expressed his dissatisfaction with the Germans and what they are doing to the environment.
I personally believe the scandal is still in its early stages, and the EPA will soon discover many more irregularities. The global car market could be rocked to the core, as Europe buys the most diesel engines, not America. The 482,000 affected TDIs in America are like the tip of the 11 million strong iceberg Volkswagen has to deal with.
Do other German cars have "defeat devices"? We've heard they do, but that won't change Volkswagen looking like satin incarnate.
The company released all sorts of statements to show how sorry they are. However, this is the first time CEO Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn came in front of the camera to apologize.
“The irregularities that have been found in our Group’s diesel engines go against everything Volkswagen stands for. At present, we do not yet have all the answers to all the questions. But we are working hard to find out exactly what happened. To do that, we are putting everything on the table, as quickly, thoroughly and transparently as possible. And we continue to cooperate closely with the relevant government organizations and authorities. This quick and full clarification has the highest priority. We owe that to our customers, our employees and the public. Manipulation and Volkswagen – that must never be allowed to happen again," Winterkorn said.
The statement is also addressed to the authorities, but we doubt the EPA will be lenient with the sentence just because a CEO says he is sorry. The general public is out for blood, and they're probably going to get it.
Of course, the Germans have already been hurt by the scandal. Even before the first bad sales results are released, their shares have dropped considerably, and Winterkorn may lose his job at the end of the week. That's because the cost of the recall and fines could be in the tens of billions.
Because hybrids and EVs are not yet a viable solution, the world still needs diesel engines. Many of those 11 million TDI customers love their cars, but they don't appreciate being lied to.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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