Was it really too difficult?

[Suff]

To make a diesel engine which could simultaneously obey the US emissions standards AND compete with the US car industry?

There are places in the world where doing this kind of thing will blow over, can be bought out or simply brushed under the carpet. In the US this is highly unlikely to happen. This is a deliberate attempt to pervert US environmental legislation for monetary gain. In those circumstances the US legal system is going to be pressing for criminal charges and also fines to the limit of the law.

I assume that Directors are going to be charged, the projected fines of $18 Billion will only be the tip of the iceberg when other claims start to roll in and future business could be damaged beyond repair. Nitrogen Oxide emissions (the one's which the systems were used to hide), have been linked to serious numbers of deaths in the US.

The US is a place where they expect someone or multiple someone's to be responsible for the actions they take.

VAG may take decades to recover from this. Or they may never recover from it.

I've said for years now that the EU bends over backwards for German businesses in order to create a German powerhouse economy to drive the EU. Actions which might be overlooked by the EU, or at worst earn a smacked wrist and a small fine, are not going to be viewed that way in the US.

I shall be an interested spectator on this one. It's a something to take my mind off other happenings right now.

As they saying goes. Power corrupts....................

[Workingman]

What?

We plebs are told a pack of lies. Then there comes an apology.

The market in VW shares then bombs and we get another apology. Oh my.

Tell you what: I bet that some spiv sees the chance of making a few bob and the share price rises by Friday. And so it goes.

Rocket science it ain't.

[pederito1]

Oh dear, my car has a VW engine and I suppose I will be done for Road Tax one day. I have always been surprised at the alleged low emission though it does pass the MOT for emission.

[Suff]

I was just looking at the overall press articles on this today. Seems they are going to offset $7bn to rectify the situation. But the government can fine them up to $18bn. Then there will be the class action suit and god knows how many other environmental suits.

So then I looked up the VG (VolksWagen Group), combined annual financial statement for 2014.

Total profit Before tax???

€14.8bn

I doubt VG shareholders are going to be happy campers right now.

[TheOstrich]

I doubt VG shareholders are going to be happy campers right now.

Happy campers? Oh, I don't know .....

http://wildaboutscotland.com/2012/11/19 ... ng-of-age/

[Suff]

Very good but if you are going all things VW and iconic, you need one of these....

[Diflower]

So the big biss has now stepped down, but says he doesn't think he did anything wrong, and someone else in the company says he (boss) didn't know about the cheat.

Well guess what Big Boss? All that money you get paid for being in such a position means the buck stops with you.
And if you didn't know about it, then you weren't doing your job.

[Suff]

Indeed. They get that money because, in cases like this, they may never work again and it is their job to walk the plank when the brown sticky stuff hits the whirly thing.....

There are certainly going to be criminal prosecutions and the fines are going to virtually break the company. When the ship hits the rocks, no matter who made the navigation mistake, it is always the Captain who is to blame.

[Workingman]

But isn't the case that when you have a management style that sends orders down, but does not listen to the layer below the flow of information upwards stops.

When that happens these things occur.

Yes, he had to go because he is where the buck stopped.

[Suff]

Well now, disregard all the noise, ignore the hype, ignore the new CEO and the US and UK threats.

This little statement tells you just how badly VW have been hurt.

ECB piles on the pressure

THe European Central Bank has suspended purchases of asset-backed securities backed by VW loans, according to Reuters.

.

Never mind the fact that, yet again, the banks are using debts as assets (and they told us they had learned their lessons), if the ECB won't buy them as part of their €60tn QE program it is because they believe there is a good possibility it won't be paid back.

There is only one way that these loans won't be paid back and that is if VW goes Bankrupt!