Photo: www.automobil-produktion.de
There’s no better way to say you’re sorry than by giving a gift to the person you’ve hurt. If you’re Europe’s biggest carmaker, and your boo-boo is affecting millions of your customers, you may be forced to buy more than one present.
Volkswagen’s CEO Michael Horn has announced in a statement that owners of 482,000 cars in the US will receive $1,000 in gift cards and vouchers. The car-of-the-people maker is doing this as a goodwill gesture to owners of small-diesel-powered vehicles involved in the emissions cheat scandal.
Primary school math tells us the Germans are giving away a mere $482 million. The $1,000 per owner only adds to the already announced $2,000 that the company is offering to current VW owners who will trade in their cars for new vehicles.
Compensation or goodwill gesture, whatever these dollar bills are, accepting them will not stop people from suing the company. You just have to say yes, as owners will not be required to sign anything to give up their right to file a suit based on Volkswagen’s emissions cheat.
Speaking of the court of law, according to AP, more than 200 class-action lawsuits have already been filed in the US against VW, alleging that Dieselgate caused their diesel cars to drop in value.
It’s not just the price they sell at that dropped, but their whole purpose doesn’t quite make sense these days. The additional money VW customers paid for the company’s diesel cars in the first place was for the vehicles to be environmentally sensitive without losing performance. Most of the customers who bought these cars both in the EU and in the US have done it for a sole purpose: efficiency.
VW is no longer going through some bad weather, VW is bad weather. And aside from all the money the company will have to pay to get out of this mess, there’s also the social aspect of their own people. One must not forget that the Germans also have to find a way to save as many as possible out of the 600,000 workers currently depending on the giant’s health.
Primary school math tells us the Germans are giving away a mere $482 million. The $1,000 per owner only adds to the already announced $2,000 that the company is offering to current VW owners who will trade in their cars for new vehicles.
Compensation or goodwill gesture, whatever these dollar bills are, accepting them will not stop people from suing the company. You just have to say yes, as owners will not be required to sign anything to give up their right to file a suit based on Volkswagen’s emissions cheat.
Speaking of the court of law, according to AP, more than 200 class-action lawsuits have already been filed in the US against VW, alleging that Dieselgate caused their diesel cars to drop in value.
It’s not just the price they sell at that dropped, but their whole purpose doesn’t quite make sense these days. The additional money VW customers paid for the company’s diesel cars in the first place was for the vehicles to be environmentally sensitive without losing performance. Most of the customers who bought these cars both in the EU and in the US have done it for a sole purpose: efficiency.
VW is no longer going through some bad weather, VW is bad weather. And aside from all the money the company will have to pay to get out of this mess, there’s also the social aspect of their own people. One must not forget that the Germans also have to find a way to save as many as possible out of the 600,000 workers currently depending on the giant’s health.
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