Volkswagen - What's got into you???

[HarmanKardon]

Nice to meet you, Sir!

Well, we are not just talking about 500000 manipulated cars in the US, we are talking about 11 million cars all over the world. So the Mexican Environment Minister announced to check the cars in Mexico.

This issue is very nice for America. No customer has been harmed or even killed (think of defective brakes in cars of other brands) but Volkswagen has to pay billions and billions of compensation anyway.

We Germans are so extremely disappointed. Volkswagen is not just a brand for us. After 1945, this company became an essential part of the so called "Wirtschaftswunder" and the beetle, also pretty popular in the US, became an actual family member in countless families for decades, also in my family. For a half century we have had VW cars in our family until the present day. Recently - prior to the scandal - somebody started a "Who is an owner of a Volkswagen" thread on AK and the lively participation in this thread demostrates the popularity of Volkswagen in America.

The latest news is that the German industry dissociates from the Volkswagen Company which is another serious sign how extremely destroyed is the reputation of Volkswagen. And this is probably the essential problem now - how to restore the reputation of Volkswagen in order to protect 600000 workplaces?

[d-ray657]

Do the German CEOs have the same type of golden parachutes as many American CEOs, where, despite destroying a company, they leave with millions and millions in severance packages?

Regards,

D-Ray

[icenine]

I hardly doubt this is the end of VW. Toyota and GM are still around. Plus just think of all the Audi and VW dealers that need to keep that repair money coming in so they can fix all those "marvels of German engineering" at exorbitant prices.

Besides if I can bag a cheap TDI I don't have to worry about smog tests anymore!


Seriously VW is going to be just fine.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by icenine

I hardly doubt this is the end of VW. Toyota and GM are still around. Plus just think of all the Audi and VW dealers that need to keep that repair money coming in so they can fix all those "marvels of German engineering" at exorbitant prices.

Besides if I can bag a cheap TDI I don't have to worry about smog tests anymore!

Seriously VW is going to be just fine.

Maybe, but they were banking heavily on expanding North American operations (and this was a probable factor behind the behind the scam). This likely will put the kabbash on that. They were on the cusp of allaying concerns about their reliability when this occurred. Back to the drawing board, I suppose.

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by icenine

I hardly doubt this is the end of VW. Toyota and GM are still around. Plus just think of all the Audi and VW dealers that need to keep that repair money coming in so they can fix all those "marvels of German engineering" at exorbitant prices.

Besides if I can bag a cheap TDI I don't have to worry about smog tests anymore!


Seriously VW is going to be just fine.

Over and above fines and lawsuits their biggest immediate headache will be to make the 11 million cars or so compliant. That will take some serious money. Quite possible that the German government may be compelled to protect VW from bankruptcy. Otherwise they may be toast.

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by BeamOn

Over and above fines and lawsuits their biggest immediate headache will be to make the 11 million cars or so compliant. That will take some serious money. Quite possible that the German government may be compelled to protect VW from bankruptcy. Otherwise they may be toast.

Many of the lawsuits will likely be fraud claims. If they are able to engineer a fix to the emissions issue, they will take a big hit in fuel efficiency. I'm sure the fuel efficiency was a major selling point for the vehicles, so the buyers weren't getting what they paid for - and apparently VW knew at the outset that people weren't getting it.

Regards,

D-Ray

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

Many of the lawsuits will likely be fraud claims. If they are able to engineer a fix to the emissions issue, they will take a big hit in fuel efficiency. I'm sure the fuel efficiency was a major selling point for the vehicles, so the buyers weren't getting what they paid for - and apparently VW knew at the outset that people weren't getting it.

Regards,

D-Ray

Since the cars pass the emissions test, the fix may not be that radical. From what I understand, when the cars are in the run mode the emissions systems are defeated. So a simple software fix? Fraud payouts will be astronomical and I can already smell the class action lawsuits being cooked.

To me this still sounds like something that was brewed by the engineering and marketing folks and that the upper management was kept in the dark. Just a gut feel as an engineer.

[icenine]

Originally Posted by BeamOn

Over and above fines and lawsuits their biggest immediate headache will be to make the 11 million cars or so compliant. That will take some serious money. Quite possible that the German government may be compelled to protect VW from bankruptcy. Otherwise they may be toast.

I am not so sure that there is going to be a big effort to force compliance.
Owners may not want to and it may be more trouble than it is worth. It is not the consumer's fault that VW lied to them. I would fine the hell out of VW but not go so far as to wage a huge compliance campaign that would hurt both the future of VW and the consumer.

A wise king would decree all existing VWs to stay as they are while making sure new models were compliant. If you fail a smog check then get modded. If not then keep on rolling.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by BeamOn

Since the cars pass the emissions test, the fix may not be that radical. From what I understand, when the cars are in the run mode the emissions systems are defeated. So a simple software fix? ...

It may be a simple fix, but the fix will likely greatly impact performance and mileage, two of the features that drove folks to buy TDI's to begin with. VW could well be forced to buy back all of these vehicles.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by icenine

I am not so sure that there is going to be a big effort to force compliance.
Owners may not want to and it may be more trouble than it is worth

It seems you're forgetting about the annual smog tests that many states require. I doubt that CARB, for instance, would even let these cars be tested unless the cheat were defeated. If it is defeated and no other mods are made. the cars will flunk and will therefore be unregisterable.