Volkswagen
CEO Martin Winterkorn has apologized for manipulating US diesel emissions
tests. Fines and recalls loom on the horizon. But the biggest price to pay is
VW's loss of face - and that of the German auto industry.
Deutsche Welle, 20 Sep 2015
Volkswagen
CEO Martin Winterkorn has been forced to apologize after the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) found that the firm had been using software to trick
regulators into thinking the carmaker was complying with clean air laws.
Fresh from
presenting the Volkswagen Group's latest models to champagne and flashing
lights at the Frankfurt International Motor Show earlier this week, Winterkorn
on Sunday avoided directly admitting willful deception. But the EPA's evidence
was presumably strong enough to merit an apology.
Long winter
ahead?
"I
personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and
the public," said Winterkorn in a statement. "We will cooperate fully
with the responsible agencies, with transparency and urgency, to clearly,
openly and completely establish all of the facts of this case."
He added
that VW has also ordered an external investigation. And in the spirit of
further damage control, the carmaker has pulled from YouTube its ads marketing
the diesel-powered cars as being better for the environment.
 |
| VW is facing fines of up to $18 billion in the US |
The
technology used by VW in the EPA tests allowed its diesel cars to release fewer
smog-causing pollutants during tests than in real-world driving conditions.
Environmental,
consumer health hazards
Despite the
apology, things are already looking grim for the carmaker. The EPA said VW
installed the software in nearly half a million cars in models from the last
seven years, including the Audi A3, VW Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat - and
that the software may have hidden up to 40 times the acceptable level of
harmful pollutants, causing both environmental and consumer health hazards.
VW is
facing fines of up to $18 billion (15.9 billion euros). It will also have to
fix the cars at its own expense. But the bigger cost of the EPA's discovery is
to VW's image - and potentially that of the German car industry as a whole.
Daimler,
which shares the German auto industry's Big Three label along with VW and BMW,
commented sparingly on the issue.
"I
know too little about the case to judge just how justified the accusations
against Volkswagen are, and whether we can be a 100 percent certain of them in
every way," said CEO Dieter Zetsche.
Coming
clean
But a
transparent approach to an impending crisis is key, said Stefan Bratzel, a
professor specializing in innovation research at the Bergisch Gladbach
University of Applied Sciences.
"This
is obviously negative for the German car industry, but speculation has to be
kept in check," Bratzel told DW. "Volkswagen and - if it comes to it
- other German carmakers have to be proactive and transparent and say whether
this was an isolated problem in the US, or whether this is a pattern."
Volkswagen
will also eventually have to make clear who within the organizational structure
is responsible, and just how high up they are.
"An
administrator didn't just decide this on his own," said Bratzel. "Somebody
would have signed off on this."
Trouble on
the homefront
Calls for
an investigation have already come in VW's native market. Germany's Green Party
wants a probe to determine whether emissions test manipulation has also taken
place in Germany.
"We will
emphatically demand an investigation in parliament and examine whether German
authorities have helped along illegal activities by deliberately looking the
other way," said Bärbel Höhn, the chair of the Green Party's environmental
committee.
All this
comes at a time when the biggest threat to the German car industry was thought
to be the Chinese economic slowdown. But as VW's shareholders are bound to
learn when markets open on Monday, what's bad for the environment and for
health will likely end up being bad for business.
(dpa, AP)
 |
US
government has expanded its investigation of pollution-skirting devices in
diesel vehicles to other manufacturers after Volkswagen admitted it used them
to thwart environmental standards (AFP Photo/Thomas Samson)
|
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