Discussion for article #240919
Not enough. I’ve owned 2 Volkswagens; loved them both. Now, the company’s dead to me, & I’m far from alone. Goodbye, industry icon.
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Volkswagen needs a fresh start — also in terms of personnel. I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation.
I think they actually need a “clean” start…
http://image.automotive.com/f/news/11354061%2Bpheader/epcp_0811_01_z%2B2009_vw_jetta_tdi_clean_diesel%2Bfront_left.jpg
I think he is guilty of some of this cheating mess, based on his tenure. I’m concerned that my diesel Audi A3 (“Green Car of the Year” in 2010, the year I bought it, and for that reason) won’t be allowed to renew its license in California. (California has joined in saying the diesels are “non-compliant”). Does anyone know??
(It got federal tax credits for being so “green” by the way.)
There will probably be some kind of program change they can just upload to the car’s computer and I’m guessing it will just mean your milage will change. Whether that means it will go up or down though I’m unsure. I could see maybe it will go up but you’ll be down on power.
“even though I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part.”
Well , that sounds as convincing as “I was just following orders”.
Too bad he didn’t decide to go into banking. Jamie Dimon’s company, JPMorgan, lost a billion or two in a series of scandals and he got a pay raise.
On the other hand, VW has already set aside $7Billion to deal with this mess and I would expect that to be on the low end of what it will cost in legal fees, fines, class action lawsuits, repairs, and lost sales by the time this is all done. Probably best that the CEO slipped away quickly with his pension.
Executives will probably go to jail over this (if there is any justice in the world), so he might want to put a few dozen lawyers on retainer.
This will turn out to be a WIDESPREAD issue among many, many car manufacturers.
Most of them use the BOSCH emissions control modules used by VW and those were the culprits in this.
There is a Loooong history of manufacturers going to extremes to avoid emissions standards, sometimes spending MORE money on the avoidance than it would take to meet them (case in point. This could wreck VW as a company after all the Civil Suits get done.)
In most cases, it’s short-term-profiteering overriding long-term-viability in the upper-reaches of the executive suite (in many cases after being threatened by the Board if they look like they won’t reach the arbitrary numbers the Board has set out.)
FEAR rules in the upper-echelons of management. Never forget that, and FEAR is the most potent of emotions.
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