[volkman10]

VW plans 'wave' of dismissals following diesel scandal.

Volkswagen Group plans to fire a group of engineers and managers implicated in the automaker’s diesel emissions-cheating scandal, German press reports said.

Former VW brand development boss Heinz-Jakob Neusser is the highest-ranking employee among six expected firings

Source:

[GTO]

A fascinating longform article on the VW scandal, the people behind it and how VW got away easy in some countries.

Propublica Article

On Dec. 6, former Volkswagen engineer Oliver Schmidt was led into a federal courtroom in Detroit in handcuffs and leg irons. He was wearing a blood-red jumpsuit, his head shaved, as it always is, and his deep-set eyes seemed to ask, “how did I get here?” As Schmidt’s wife tried to suppress tears in a second-row pew, U.S. District Judge Sean Cox sentenced him to what, had it been imposed in Schmidt’s native Germany, would rank among the harshest white collar sentences ever meted out: seven years in prison.

Schmidt was being punished for his role in VW’s “Dieselgate” scandal, one of the most audacious corporate frauds in history. Yet his sentence brought no catharsis, least of all to Cox, who at times seemed pained while imposing it. Sometimes, he told Schmidt apologetically, his job requires him to imprison “good people just making very, very bad decisions.”

Schmidt was a henchman, everyone understood, and his sentence, a stand-in. The judge was addressing a set of people in Germany who are beyond the reach of U.S. prosecutors because Germany does not ordinarily extradite its nationals beyond European Union frontiers. Above all, the Detroit courtroom was haunted by the shadow of an individual who was absent: Martin Winterkorn, who was VW’s CEO during almost all of the fraud. His name was uttered only twice, yet his aura loomed over the entire hearing.

[Arjun Reddy]

India- NGT has fined VW an interim 100 Cr in the diesel gate scam.
https://auto.ndtv.com/news/volkswage...candal-1948628

[sandeepmohan]

Jassen Todorov has won National Geographic's 2018 grand prize for this photograph linked below.



He took this photograph while flying his 1976 Piper Warrior over the California Logistics Airport at Mojave desert which stores retired aircraft. The land beside the airport is sort of a grave yard for VW and its family of cars that were recalled due to the emissions scandal. I did not pay much attention when I first saw this image. It reminded me of the houses next to Mumbai's airport. It is only when I read the photo description did I realize they were all cars! His title to the photograph "UNREAL", just goes to show how bad the situation was/is around this scandal. Curious to know the state of these cars considering they have been standing here for quite a while now.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/p...winners-all/1/

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Curious to know the state of these cars considering they have been standing here for quite a while now.

The cars are being fixed and slowly delivered to used car dealerships. They are still in demand, not many diesel options in those segments. Autocar UK has an article on it.

[GrammarNazi]

National Green Tribunal has imposed penalty of Rs 500 crore on VAG for installing cheat devices & causing harm to environment. It has asked the company to deposit the amount in 2 months.

VW has said all cars are compliant with emission norms defined in India. They're waiting for a copy of the order. VAG will challenge the NGT order in the Supreme Court.

IMHO they should negotiate & close it. Maybe that's what they're planning to do by appealing to the Supreme Court.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

National Green Tribunal has imposed penalty of Rs 500 crore on VAG for installing cheat devices & causing harm to environment. It has asked the company to deposit the amount in 2 months.

VW has said all cars are compliant with emission norms defined in India. They're waiting for a copy of the order. VAG will challenge the NGT order in the Supreme Court.

IMHO they should negotiate & close it. Maybe that's what they're planning to do by appealing to the Supreme Court.

The report claims VW cars in India were fitted with the defeat device. Was this proven at all?

[volkman10]

Volkswagen India to challenge NGT order in Supreme Court.

The Volkswagen Group in India reiterates that all cars from the Group are compliant with the emission norms defined in India

Link

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by ajmat

The report claims VW cars in India were fitted with the defeat device. Was this proven at all?

I always assumed that the same engines would have the same device, wherever they are. But, thinking about how much less gets built into an Indian car than a European car, I suppose that might be a foolish assumption.

If it turns out not to have been, shall we complain? Hey, VW! We want our defeat devices!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I always assumed that the same engines would have the same device, wherever they are. But, thinking about how much less gets built into an Indian car than a European car, I suppose that might be a foolish assumption.



If it turns out not to have been, shall we complain? Hey, VW! We want our defeat devices!

From what I have understood the cheat device is just a software routine that determines the car is being tested and then adjust the car management system to be more "cleaner" on emissions than it would under normal driving conditions.

But it does bring an interesting point. In fact two different aspects

1) Are the Indian emission rules so much different from say the western ones? In which case the cars could well be compliant with Indian rules and regulations

2) How did VW sell these cars in India; did they only say they comply with Indian Emission rules and regulations, or did they claim their cars were far better.

In the latter case, they might still comply with Indian rules and regulations, but might not deliver upon their marketing/selling promise.

No offense, but I often felt NGT orders in the past, showed a total lack of understanding of the topic at hand. Just very bold generic statements that look good in the public eye. But do not contribute to a real solution of a problem. These guys could give lessons to Trump on how to play social media.

Jeroen

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

From what I have understood the cheat device is just a software routine that determines the car is being tested and then adjust the car management system to be more "cleaner" on emissions than it would under normal driving conditions.

Yes, from what I understand it is software designed based on data that is shared by EPA on how they do the tests. There are pictures available from the EPA about how the tests are done on the Dyno, with front wheels spinning and the rear wheel stationary.

VW used such publicly available data and did the "switch" to test mode. VW called it "dyno calibration" and ran completely separate ECM software that reduced emissions drastically.

Tests have to be in controlled environments, and I see no reason the Indian tests would be different from what the EPA does.

[vrprabhu]

GM fires PIO engineer who exposed VW emissions fraud. Times of India - May 8, 2019 - Page 19.

Link - https://epaperlive.timesgroup.com/TO...8#display_area

Report states that VW has paid $ 23 billion to resolve criminal charges and lawsuits in the US and $ 33 billion overall (works out to upwards of Rs. 23,000 crore ...)

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by vrprabhu

GM fires PIO engineer who exposed VW emissions fraud. Times of India - May 8, 2019 - Page 19.

Link - https://epaperlive.timesgroup.com/TO...8#display_area

Report states that VW has paid $ 23 billion to resolve criminal charges and lawsuits in the US and $ 33 billion overall (works out to upwards of Rs. 23,000 crore ...)

Hemanth Kappanna (part of the trio of whistle-blowers, including another Indian techie) is sitting idle at home in Bangalore at the moment, without a job. It appears as tho' our auto industry (the domestic majors) is reluctant to walk the talk. Here is an activist whose action resulted in the VW giant being dragged by the scruff of the neck and made to pay for their villainy to the tune of billions. And instead of falling over themselves to employ him as a sort of mascot, our emissions watchdog bodies (the ARAI, NCAP....) prefer to look the other way. So much for commitment to a greener planet...

[volkman10]

Volkswagen Says Sorry For Dieselgate, Seeks Closure In New EV Ad.

Dieselgate is dead, long live the EV..


Volkswagen wants to put Dieselgate behind it. In doing so, the company today released a TV ad entitled "Hello Light," which hopes to convince consumers to overlook its past and embrace an electrified future – all to the tune of the Simon and Garfunkel hit song, the Sound of Silence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=qEvNL6oEr0U

Source:
https://www.motor1.com/news/353173/v...selgate-ev-ad/

[AlphaKilo]

The worries for VAG is not over yet. The diesel scandal ghost is still chasing the VW brand. Only difference is, if proven, this might be the last nail on their coffin once and for ever. VW engines with EU6 norms still possess some cheat devices/software techniques to identify and vary the Adblue injection according to the situation. The German transport authority has decided to investigate in detail.

Der Abgasskandal bei VW könnte sich ausweiten. Laut einem internen Bericht sind auch neuere Diesel-6-Motoren mit einer Schummelsoftware ausgestattet.

Wolfsburg - Der Abgasskandal rund um Volkswagen (VW) scheint in die nächste Runde zu gehen. Nach internen Dokumenten, die dem SWR vorliegen, soll das Unternehmen auch bei Diesel-Motoren mit Euro-6-Abgasnorm eine Schummelsoftware eingebaut haben. Dieselbe Software stand während des Dieselskandals bereits groß in den Schlagzeilen - denn sie erkennt, ob ein Fahrzeug sich gerade einem Abgastest stellen muss und den Ausstoß infolgedessen anpasst. Der Konzern dementiert, doch laut Experten scheint die Sachlage klar.

Translation: The emission scandal could be more deeper. This was identified from an internal report (VW internal) that got into the hands of SWR (a news channel), that the latest EU6 diesel engines too have some kind of software cheats programmed into them. The VW group is yet to comment on this but the issue seems to be transparent to the experts.

https://www.merkur.de/wirtschaft/abg...-12995874.html

Full report: https://www.tagesschau.de/investigat...andal-157.html

oh dear VW!

Even with a new logo and a new boss, they seem to not have decided to change their strategy. The new ID.3 has indeed gathered some praise in the market with lot of orders but if this scandal proves to be true, then this might bring the VW empire down to its knees.