The car company briefly became the world’s biggest in the first half of the year, selling 5.04 million cars, around 20,000 more than Toyota, but now its been knocked off its perch. And the full force of the emissions scandal has yet to fully hit sales.
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Average auction prices of the Volkswagen AG VLKAY, +4.20% diesel cars in the eye of an emissions scandal have dropped nearly 16%, Kelley Blue Book said Wednesday.
Volkswagen of America C.E.O. Michael Horn told a House subcommittee investigating his company’s ongoing emissions scandal that it wasn’t a corporate decision to cheat emissions tests by installing “defeat” software in eleven million diesel cars. Instead, Horn said, it was “a couple of software engineers.”
Volkswagen almost inevitably will have to compensate owners of diesel cars equipped with emissions-rigging software. Some legal experts in the US say the automaker could be forced to buy back the cars altogether.
In the future, consumers will let companies know that business as usual – poor corporate governance and empty promises – will no longer be tolerated.
The German government forced Volkswagen AG to recall about 2.4 million diesel cars after throwing out the carmaker’s proposal for voluntary repairs, setting off a chain reaction by authorities across Europe.
The Federal Trade Commission has joined the Volkswagen criminal investigations, adding another potential source of fines and penalties if the agency finds evidence of wrongdoing.
Nine out of 10 Volkswagen drivers in the UK whose vehicles could be affected by the diesel emissions scandal think they should get compensation, according to a consumer group survey.
Volkswagen’s pollution cheating program was developed by dozens of managers, not just a handful of individuals as the company has suggested, news site Spiegel Online has reported.
The emissions scandal engulfing Volkswagen AG has cast a spotlight on countries such as Australia, whose vehicle pollution standards are far less stringent than those in either the U.S. or Europe.