Will the US extradite the relevant officers, like they did the Hwawei CFO in Vancouver? No, not likely.
It's getting ridiculous now. Volkswagen have been punished so massively and yet it's not enough. Americas legal system is so twisted it invites everyone to fill it's pockets times and times over again. It's so vindictive the job isn't done until Volkswagen has been destroyed. It might be useful to put everything in perspective. Volkswagen has several hundred thousand employees, all but a small circle of say 50 people had been actively involved in the scam. Hunt these people down as opposed to the entire company.
One can easily get convinced it's all but a barely concealed trade war
2
I have concerns about the "big numbers" as regards VW.
They make around $13 billion in annual profit (before exceptional items which include dieselgate).
The article says that dieselgate has so far cost them $33 billion. There's also a strong implication that quite a bit more needs to be set aside for future fines.
And yet they apparently have a $50 billion warchest available to invest in their electric transformation.
They appear to have committed 6 years-worth of profits in the 3 years since the dieselgate scandal broke. There are rules in the EU about government subsidies so I'm sure there wouldn't have been any cash injections or other assistance from the German government. Would there?
As far as the SEC charges are concerned, VW would have a perfectly legitimate defense claiming, "We didn't think we'd get caught cheating on emissions". If VW had never been caught, then their bondholders and shareholders would not have suffered financially, even if air quality, which is not within SEC's mandate, would have taken a hit.
I tell ya', I should'a been a lawyer!
The VW diesel scandal is, of course, an unforgivable failure of governace at the company. However, the penalties levied against VW have a taste of arbitrariness. $33bn seem disproportionate to what GM had to pay for mal-functioning ignition switches or, let's say, the gun industry the products of which kill more people every year than any other industry. And, the gun industry has even been exempted from litigation by Congress.
4
If you are investor you are part of the team. So instead of discussing whether those investors should be compensated the discussion should be whether they were part of a criminal enterprise and should pay.
2
I think it is bizarre that VW would try a stunt like this unless they felt sure they could get away with it.
European auto emissions testing was very lax -- the automakers self-certified ... and they were not even required to prove that the cars they tested were identical to ones produced; they could test "prototypes."
But in America there was a real independent test standard, albeit one done in a laboratory, and with a fixed test cycle.
It's hard for me to believe the executives would risk it unless they thought the "fix was in" somehow.
if these new allegations are true and proved in court, this company should be barred from doing business in this country. if germany does not like it, too bad. the alleged corruption by this company is almost beyond belief.
8
While I cannot condone VW's behavior, let's not forget the slaps on the wrist given to US-based automakers for similar -- or worse -- behavior. GM knew, and failed to fix for nearly a decade, a $10 ignition switch that has been linked to at least 124 deaths; their fine was less than a tenth of what VW ultimately will shell out. Fiat-Chrysler America cheated on its diesel emissions and will pay even less than GM did; when FAC admitted recently that almost 900,000 of its gasoline-powered cars didn't meet long-term emissions standards, it got a nice thank-you card from the EPA. I'd like an explanation for the disparity in punishments; until then, I can only conclude that this country's rampant xenophobia has something to do with the higher fines and "piling on," as VW terms it.
10
no GM senior management did Not know and that was proven.
The VW issue was a deliberate global deception from the top on down. this is no comparison.
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@mgs
Standards of ethics and responsibility mean that company executives own the results of whatever takes place in their business, good or bad. Executives "I didn't know" defense rings hollow.
4
@Arthur I was living in Germany at the time. Many Germans believed that the US was just getting even with the EU for its truly outrageous fines against US high tech companies - and that VW was completely innocent. They have the kind of market economy that could far more easily make such connections than does the US. Note also that the EU depends on precautionary approaches which are notorious for being used to ban whatever a non-EU country does better - consider their protection of EU farmers against developing countries and the US. They also have far more cozy relations between companies and government which leads to less regulatory oversight - VW is partially state-owned. And a major reason for their US costs is our far stronger tort system, not the US government. My view, for which I have some acquaintance with the issue but not proof, is that Germany has far less concern about the toxicity of air pollutants produced by diesel than does the US, believed that we are wrong to be so concerned, and so it was OK to cheat
3
Has the SEC been asleep for 5 years?
As long as corporates treat fines and damages as a cost of doing business, this shoddy behavior will continue. Jail time and personal fines for executives proved to be complicit are required. I agree that banning their products should also be considered unless the company consents to regulators riding shotgun on their engineering and production activities for a few years. We could consider a targeted withdrawal of limited liability for serial corporate wrongdoers for willful or reckless behavior.
25
VW is known for edgy ads. Here’s a new tagline:
“Volkswagen: the company that lies to you.”
Why anyone continues to buy Volkswagens is beyond me. This wasn’t ad hype or shoddy construction. This was out and out deception, and consumers should fix the problem with VW by simply putting it out of business.
16
Exactly! the largest global fraud in history. and unbelievable global pollution and cost to environment.
7
The environmental cost of the millions of entirely legal cars made by the big three is million times larger than that of Volkswagens dirty Diesel. But hey who cares because GM is American. When’s the last time a us corporate got punished in a similar way? The only ones who profit from the twisted legal system are legal firms who most are most creative in finding yet another legal loophole and fill their coffers more and more
1
@mgs - "Exactly! the largest global fraud in history". Well yes, next to the fraud of man-made global warming.
There is no dollar figure that is sufficient penalty for this crime. The executives who approved of this fraud should spend years in prison as well as lose their shirts.
32
It’s been how many years since this first broke in the news and NOW the SEC wants to drag them in court. Don’t they have anything better to do? It’s like the SEC wants attention or something, like the constant nitpicking of Elon Musk.
2
Volkswagen TDI is "Turbocharged Direct Injection" or "Total Dis-Information"
3
Well ... that's several years overdue.
3
Some wonder if VW is perpetrating another fraud on investors with the hyperbole they spout regarding their electric vehicles. Some entities, especially the older established ones, think they are immune from bad behavior. They may even believe the lies they tell - until the truth is evident.
2
I cannot begin to imagine what VW's defenses will be. They are glaringly guilty of brazen fraud, and so far have gotten off light both here and around the world.
I might not be so focused on consequences for VW if I didn't view their massive fraud as the product of appalling arrogance and greed, arrogance and greed that put profits for a relative few ahead of the environmental concerns that everyone in the world shares and the economic interests of shareholders, customers, and workers. They have not come close to facing consequences sufficient to change their conduct in the future or the conduct of anyone else in any other company who might have been taught a lesson had the consequences to VW been sufficient as a deterrent.
There's a chance that my anger with the VW might have been less had I not been educated about them by experience with their horrendous cars in the past, including some 200 warranty repairs (not exaggerated). When I expressed some of my frustration to the sales manager at the VW dealership to which I was constantly taking my cars, I was assured by him that "As long as Volkswagen sells its cars, it doesn't care what you think."
It is clear that that attitude continues to prevail. They don't care that they were caught in a huge and reprehensible fraud as long as they sell their cars, which they are doing.
VW needs incentives to change its attitude, and hitting them in their collective wallets is the only way short of banning their vehicles.
17
Ban their vehicles. Now that just might get their attention and the attention of any other corporation planning to cheat.
7
This concept of law is medieval if not even backward. So 50 managers of a huge corporate of several hundred thousand employees lie and betray? Sod it, let's destroy the the entire lot
@Barbara8101
Some jail time would be far more effective than a slap in the wallet.
1