Is Volkswagen Starting To Turn A Corner In The #Dieselgate Debacle? All Signs Point To...

Volkswagen has had an awful 2015 from a multitude of perspectives.

The company is dealing with what may be considered one of the great automotive catastrophe's in recent years and the German brand is paying the piper for it. Sales are down, the company's brand equity may be permanently bruised and once loyal owners are PISSED.

But, this past week may have been a uplifting one as the company may have turned a corner in the dieselgate scandal. Of course you wouldn't know that though because the mainstream media just wants to hammer the hell out of the company and not report the FULL story.

The biggest news is that the number of affected vehicles was scaled down from a monumental 800,000 to 36,000 units. If this is a realistic figure, Volkswagen Auto Group's (VWAG) problem just got much smaller and more manageable.

Sales are remaining OK in China and Europe while other markets are getting battered.

Having said that, is VW starting to turn a corner or is the pain just starting to set in at one of the world's largest automakers?

There are small but positive signs that the Volkswagen Group is finally getting its act together.

Everything is relative, of course, but this feels like it has been quite a good week for the VW Group. So much so that I’m finally starting to believe the firm can begin the arduous and almost certainly long journey to redemption.

Firstly, the number of cars affected by the CO2 scandal reduced from a potential 800,000 to 36,000...

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MDarringer - 12/13/2015 12:49:58 PM

+2 Boost

They estimated 800K units but it's on 36K units all of a sudden? We should trust them why?

800over - 12/14/2015 10:19:45 AM

+1 Boost

That's only the CO2 problem....that has nothing to do with the cars implicated in the EPA cheat. What a terrible article summary.

TheSteve - 12/14/2015 3:44:11 PM

+2 Boost

800over: The Dieselgate scandal widened to uncover other falsifications, one of which included understated CO2 emissions. The emissions, in themselves, affect taxation rates in various European countries, so this extended the scandal to include VW's tax fraud and tax evasion charges. Additionally, the CO2 emissions are tightly bound to fuel economy, and it was discovered that VW also falsified fuel economy numbers by doing things like taping up seams to reduce wind drag, and diluting lubricating oils with diesel fuel to reduce friction (and artificially increase fuel economy) when they performed their fuel economy tests.

So I don't know if I'd agree with you that "...the CO2 problem...has nothing to do with the cars implicated in the EPA cheat..." Strictly speaking, these other issues aren't related to the emissions defeat software the EPA originally cited in September 2015, but they certainly are related to the scandal that arose from the EPA's discovery.

mpls - 12/13/2015 5:00:20 PM

+3 Boost

considering that 1.6 and 2.0 diesels are he bread and butter of the cars sold amongst VW, audi, Seat, Skoda for the past 6 year or so. i would be skeptical too !

PUGPROUD - 12/13/2015 6:11:34 PM

-1 Boost

The old management is out. The new guys at the top are now starting to feel the pressure and have switched from complete openness to how do we cover our asses and protect our positions. Such a dramatic change in number of problem cars sounds like a redefinition by company lawyers of what is considered out of compliance. If it is a cover up things will only get worse at VW.

TheSteve - 12/13/2015 8:09:17 PM

+1 Boost

VW is still making statements such as "series of mistakes"[1] and they "tolerated cheating"[2] rather than admitting that officers, executives, and senior managers created a corporate culture that sowed the seeds and fostered unethical and illegal behavior. It still sounds like scapegoating, while defending The Brand, do me.


[1] As though the initial decision to game the emissions tests was a mistake, as was the decision to keep on doing it year after year, as was the decision to revise the cheat software several times to make it more difficult to detect, as was the decision to game fuel economy numbers... yup, just a series of mistakes; not a mode of operation.

[2] VW exec to VW engineers: "...find a way [to meet emissions limits, ASAP] or I'll find someone who will." This type of coercion and decree by intimidation and fear was routine at VW, according to multiple past and present VW employees.

W208 - 12/13/2015 8:49:23 PM

+1 Boost

If VW was hardly relevant when they were being "honest", why should additional effort be expended to make them more relevant in the midst of a scandal?

Seems like, as an automaker or auto parts manuf./supplier, if you're not embroiled in scandal you're just not the in crowd. This stuff hardly impacts the consumer. All of the Japanese parts price fixing, GM deaths, VW emissions issues, etc... didn't result in an immediate, substantial discount to consumers to atone for the wrong doing. Instead, they lawyer up and deny any involvement, which results in huge fines that go to the governments, which in turn is factored into product price increases to the masses.

TheSteve - 12/14/2015 3:36:24 PM

0 Boost

W208 alleged "...VW was hardly relevant..."

You might want to double-check VW's global unit sales numbers and compare them to those of the acknowledged "big names" in automotive mass production. Though they've struggled in the U.S., they've done well globally.

jameswisrik - 12/14/2015 8:11:12 AM

0 Boost

execs...are to busy being #1... they will do anything...anything to get there! reminds me of the Nazi!

dumpsty - 12/15/2015 10:57:56 AM

+1 Boost

What are the real stats for concern:

In the US, how many diesel vehicles does VW sell vs gas versions? I understand that VW does sell quite a lot of diesels in UK & Europe - what's their overall bottom line? Is #DieselGate just a PR storm on the surface?