The Volkswagen scandal—selling 11 million diesel-engined cars designed to fool US emissions regulations—is moving into the "who knew what, and when" phase. Newspapers in Germany are reporting that Bosch (the company that supplies electronics to the auto industry) warned VW only to use the cheat mode internally back in 2007, and that a whistleblower tried to raise the alarm internally in 2011. These findings both emerged from an internal audit at VW in response to the scandal.
The scandal is a heavy blow for Germany's largest car maker. After a year-long investigation, the EPA ordered VW last week to recall 500,000 cars sold in the US as they did not meet federal emissions regulations. Then we found out that the cheat software was actually present on 11 millions cars worldwide. VW has lost its chairman, a big chunk of market value, and probably the trust of many customers.
If more evidence emerges that intentionally fooling US regulators—and customers—was official VW policy, things might start looking even worse.
Loading comments...
