General: Volkswagen scandal: how two campaigners exposed the world's

[julianps]

Peter Mock and John German (sic) never intended to spark a huge crisis in the motor industry;

But when the results came back they made no sense. Despite sailing through lab tests, the Volkswagens were pumping out dangerous levels of toxins, some 35 times higher than the legal limit.
The pair had inadvertently stumbled upon one of the biggest automotive scandals in recent years.

So, not only were they frigging the system but they were imposing a costly servicing regime of fuel additives and disposable soot filters that imposed what are now clearly seen as unnecessary and punitive rip-off.

If other manufacturers' cars are creating the same results as VW then surely to the extent they're using the same technologies they were ripping us off come service time too.

Time for a class action case to recover the money lost?

[oragex]

I feel all this is a bit exaggerated but I'm happy they got rid of the VW president. I appreciate they publicly apologized and took the blame. Hopefully the next management will improve the VW quality.

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by oragex

I feel all this is a bit exaggerated but I'm happy they got rid of the VW president. I appreciate they publicly apologized and took the blame. Hopefully the next management will improve the VW quality.

I don't think that their quality is in dispute, 'oragex', it is their credibility that is in question. Apropos the next management; while a new broom may very well sweep clean, it is also true that the old one knows all of the dark corners.

Regards, John.

[ashadam]

Originally Posted by oragex

I feel all this is a bit exaggerated but I'm happy they got rid of the VW president. I appreciate they publicly apologized and took the blame. Hopefully the next management will improve the VW quality.

What exactly is exaggerated?

[julianps]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

I don't think that their quality is in dispute, 'oragex', it is their credibility that is in question. Apropos the next management; while a new broom may very well sweep clean, it is also true that the old one knows all of the dark corners.

Regards, John.

An evening or two ago I listened to an interview with the joint head of the Dax (Frankfurt Stick Exchange) ... who suggested that, at it's heart, this problem arose because car makers know a lot about manufacturing and marketing and not so much about software.

Especially about quality control and how to control and manage deployment.

And that if the car makers didn't wise up then the likes of Google and others would ride in and eat their collective lunch.

It's easy to say "what do they know" but recent history's littered with the corporate remains of companies who failed to spot the future now (Kodak, anyone, or Nokia; even once-mighty Microsoft was blind-sided by iPhone).

We could ask, so what does a market trader know about motor cars, but the truth is he knows why their stock prices are falling and it's not just to do with potential litigation, it's about the risk than a damn just cracked raising the risk of a flood of new players and new technologies could be about to disrupt the industry ... oh, and, of course, that none of those new players is German.

[NigelDay]

Originally Posted by julianps

It's easy to say "what do they know" but recent history's littered with the corporate remains of companies who failed to spot the future now (Kodak, anyone, or Nokia; even once-mighty Microsoft was blind-sided by iPhone.

Yes indeed, the future for the 'mighty' VAG is now somewhat cloudy. Sales will be hit. Fines will be imposed. Costs will need to be saved. I've lived through the pain of cost-cutting and downsizing (in another equally competitive and highly regulated industry). It doesn't stop with one round of cuts. We had three, styled 'Wave 1,2 and 3' by a 'spin-driven' HR department.
VAG had it all. Arguably world number 1 slot. Exceptional range of markets from Skoda and Seat, through VW and Audi and onto Bentley and Bugatti. The oft-quoted corporate parts-bin is the envy of all other manufacturers. They share platforms and engines freely, style accordingly and adjust with minor tweaks to the price level they are targeting. Once the golden egg is tarnished, it then becomes a damage-limitation exercise. As a three-time former VW owner, I feel sorry they have been manipulating the data, but I am also certain they are not alone.

[julianps]

Originally Posted by NigelDay

Yes indeed, the future for the 'mighty' VAG is now somewhat cloudy. Sales will be hit. Fines will be imposed. Costs will need to be saved. I've lived through the pain of cost-cutting and downsizing (in another equally competitive and highly regulated industry). It doesn't stop with one round of cuts. We had three, styled 'Wave 1,2 and 3' by a 'spin-driven' HR department.
VAG had it all. Arguably world number 1 slot. Exceptional range of markets from Skoda and Seat, through VW and Audi and onto Bentley and Bugatti. The oft-quoted corporate parts-bin is the envy of all other manufacturers. They share platforms and engines freely, style accordingly and adjust with minor tweaks to the price level they are targeting. Once the golden egg is tarnished, it then becomes a damage-limitation exercise. As a three-time former VW owner, I feel sorry they have been manipulating the data, but I am also certain they are not alone.

And it's interesting, even after the success of the Mk2 GTi how long it took VAG to build this supremacy; here, a best car ad' ever, from the 1980s(?)

[gatos]

Originally Posted by oragex

I feel all this is a bit exaggerated but I'm happy they got rid of the VW president. I appreciate they publicly apologized and took the blame. Hopefully the next management will improve the VW quality.

There is a difference if they did what they did intentionally or unintentionally. The software was designed and installed on the cars specifically to fool emissions test. It wasn't accidentally installed there.

It is fraud and nothing else. Just because they apologised, means absolutely nothing. They only did so when they were caught and their scam was found out.

With the same logic, a thief or robber can do his daily business and when he gets caught, he can apologise for his actions and walk free??? I don't think so. Customers and governments have been mislead (blatantly lied) and the people responsible for this should face jail.

The Spanish government has given millions in subsidies to Seat for the so called "cleaner" VW diesel engines and now they are demanding their money back. Rightly so if you ask me.

[Daim]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

I don't think that their quality is in dispute, 'oragex', it is their credibility that is in question. Apropos the next management; while a new broom may very well sweep clean, it is also true that the old one knows all of the dark corners.

Regards, John.

I can grant you one thing, give it 12 months and VW will be selling like before... Why? Because the consumer's mind is about as absorbing as glass can absorb water. The buyer will forget something like this...

GM still sells millions of cars, despite the "ignition barrel issue" with many death tolls. Toyota are selling millions of cars despite the "lethal throttle pedal" with death tolls. VW has "only" broken emission laws. "Only".

So techniacally, nothing to worry about, as most people give a poo about the planet we are one, or why else would someone buy a diesel in the first place?

[NigelDay]

Originally Posted by Daim

I can grant you one thing, give it 12 months and VW will be selling like before... Why? Because the consumer's mind is about as absorbing as glass can absorb water. The buyer will forget something like this...

GM still sells millions of cars, despite the "ignition barrel issue" with many death tolls. Toyota are selling millions of cars despite the "lethal throttle pedal" with death tolls. VW has "only" broken emission laws. "Only".

So techniacally, nothing to worry about, as most people give a poo about the planet we are one, or why else would someone buy a diesel in the first place?

Perhaps this may be true, but the scale of the likely punitive damages and fines will hit them hard, and (as I stated in an earlier post), there will be cuts to save money. This will almost certainly affect new product development strategies. Some parts of the VAG empire may even be sold off to realise some cash in the bank. If they handle the fall-out carefully, they will protect the 'new products' so beloved of their faithful buying public. If they get it wrong ...