Volkswagen Chairman Admits The Company Tolerated Cheating

Volkswagen Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch pledged that the company will be "relentless" in seeking to establish which people were responsible for the automaker's emissions scandal even as he admitted that there was an attitude in some parts of the company that "tolerated breaches of rules."

VW needs to win back trust lost through its cheating on diesel emissions tests that may affect 11 million vehicles worldwide," Poetsch told a news conference at the automaker's headquarters here today. "We will be relentless in seeking to establish who was responsible," he said as part of the company's updated report on the scandal. "Everything is on the table. Nothing will be swept under the carpet."
 

TheSteve - 12/10/2015 10:44:29 AM

+3 Boost

My hope, is that when they identify "those who are responsible," it's a bunch of executives and officers who ruled through intimidation and fear, rather than their footsoldiers, the common workers who feared the loss of their jobs and so did their bosses' bidding.

Old Italian saying: "The fish always starts rotting at the head."

W208 - 12/10/2015 12:36:50 PM

+3 Boost

I'm going to throw this out there just in case someone high up at VW sees it:

SHUT THE F*CK UP!!!

Their lawyers or reps should be the only ones speaking at this point. Their mouths are looser than Kim K after Ray J.

TheSteve - 12/10/2015 4:26:47 PM

0 Boost

I'd change that from "the company tolerated cheating" to "our corporate culture of ruling by intimidation and fear fostered and promoted an environment in which cheating, lying, and other unethical practices became a way of life. We didn't design it or intend it to be this way, but then again, we execs and senior managers turned a blind eye to the 'how', and in doing so, we're responsible for where we are today."

Truthful, but so not PR and PC.

MDarringer - 12/10/2015 8:05:27 PM

0 Boost

As a penalty VWAG should be forced to break up into two groups and be sold to new owners.

Group 1: Skoda, VW, Audi, Scania
Group 2: Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley
Dead: Seat and Bugatti
Sold: Ducati

mre30 - 12/10/2015 10:11:38 PM

+2 Boost

Correction -
Group 1 - Porsche
Group 2 - Ducati
Group 3 - Scania trucks

Nothing else is worth anything so it might as well stay with VW or else just get shut down. Bentley, Lambo, and Bugatti are such welfare cases (i.e. in real terms they don't make any money) they will be shut down.

You heard it here first - the China market growth story is over. Luxo brands counting on China will need a new plan.

PUGPROUD - 12/11/2015 8:24:41 AM

+1 Boost

There will be enough pain to go around. Investors, executives, managers, workers, unions, suppliers, dealers, customers and communities will all suffer. The ripple effect is only starting
to expand and will be felt broadly ad widely for years to come.
As usual the only ones to prosper from this will be the lawyers.