VW details brands affected by scandal; fix due in Oct

[webfact]

VW details brands affected by scandal; fix due in Oct

BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen's commercial vehicles and cars from its Spanish unit SEAT are among the 11 million fitted with a diesel engine that can cheat on emissions tests, the company said Tuesday.

Volkswagen AG has admitted using a piece of engine software to cheat on diesel car emissions tests in the U.S., where authorities say there are 482,000 such cars. The company says that up to 11 million vehicles worldwide were fitted with the engine in question.

The company said it would present authorities with its "technical solutions and measures" to fix the problem in October. Not all of the 11 million vehicles, however, would have had the software activated, according to new CEO Matthias Mueller.

Details have emerged gradually of how many were made by which VW division. Guenther Scherelis, a spokesman for the commercial vehicles unit — which makes vans and pickups — on Tuesday confirmed that 1.8 million of its vehicles were affected. He didn't give further details.

Spanish subsidiary SEAT said it fitted 700,000 vehicles with the EA 189 diesel engines in which Volkswagen has said there are "discrepancies."

SEAT said the cars were sold worldwide and it was seeking to determine how many were sold in each market.

Also fitted with the suspect software were 5 million VW brand cars, 2.1 million Audis and 1.2 million Skodas.

SEAT and Volkswagen-Audi Spain on Tuesday ordered a suspension of sales of all SEAT, Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen commercial vehicles with the EA 189 diesel engine. It said this decision would affect 3,320 vehicles currently in stock.

Volkswagen in Sweden said 224,746 vehicles of those brands that had been sold in the Nordic country were affected.

In a speech to VW managers Monday evening, newly appointed CEO Mueller said that the offending software was activated only in part of the cars fitted with the engine, so "we expect that the number of vehicles actually affected will be smaller," according to extracts released by the company.

He said customers will be informed in the coming days that their vehicles need work and authorities will be presented with "technical solutions" in October.

Mueller said that, alongside the company's internal probe, Volkswagen's supervisory board has commissioned an external investigation by U.S. law firm Jones Day, and "that will start very quickly."

"A long road and a lot of hard work lie ahead of us," he said.

Volkswagen on Tuesday made another managerial change, putting longtime engineer and executive Winfried Vahland in charge of a newly created North American Region starting Nov. 1.

Vahland will oversee operations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico that are now separate, and he'll have a seat on the VW brand's management board.

The German government last week set up a commission of inquiry on the scandal. Transport Ministry spokesman Martin Susteck said that the panel is in contact with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In Brussels, European Union Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska met Tuesday with Volkswagen brand chief Herbert Diess.

Ahead of the meeting, Diess said only VWs with 1.6-liter and 2-liter engines are concerned, and for the latter "we are quite sure we can fix the problem with software."

He said he would explain to EU authorities what his company is doing to fix its engines and plan "a way forward."

An EU representative said the meeting was not about fixing blame "but to establish the facts — how many vehicles have been affected, since when and in which countries."

"Both participants agreed that restoring confidence in the European car industry is of upmost importance," said the representative, who was not authorized to make public statements and spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity. The person said Bienkowska stressed to the Volkswagen executive "the importance to fully cooperate with national authorities."


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-09-30

[NeverSure]

Those engines are filthy polluters and there are 11 million of them out there. Removing the cheating software won't clean up the engines. They all need to go to the scrapyard at the Germans' expense. The scope of this ripoff to the consumer and the breathing public is so enormous I hope it bankrupts VW as a lesson to anyone else watching.

Cheers.

[canuckamuck]

Gonna be some awesome deals on VW's coming up.

[Scott]

Gonna be some awesome deals on VW's coming up.

In some places perhaps, but in much of the developed world they do have emission standards and my guess is that they will probably make diesel engines be tested. In a lot of places the emissions tests are done after a vehicle is a certain age, but that will probably change.

This incident may make life a lot harder for a lot of people.

[godden]

Perhapes TAT could put some spin on it.

[Baerboxer]

And there are those who thought German organizations didn't lie, cheat, bribe and break laws intentionally.

[klauskunkel]

"A long road and a lot of hard work lie ahead of us," he said.

...of your own making...som nam nah!

[crankshaft]

I own one of the 2012 Jetta TDI diesels in question. I paid over $3000cdn premium price, strictly strictly for the TDI diesel engine option. As far as I am concerned VW has committed fraud and the CEO of VW has admitted to that in public.

I do not want and will refuse the software update as I am perfectly happy with my diesel mileage the way it is. I get approximately 1200kms per tank on the highway and up to 900kms per tank in the city. The low end torque on the TDI engine means that almost nothing passes me on the highway and it is oh so peppy in the city.

Anyone want to complain about pollution...speak to the Chinese!

[impulse]

Those engines are filthy polluters and there are 11 million of them out there. Removing the cheating software won't clean up the engines. They all need to go to the scrapyard at the Germans' expense. The scope of this ripoff to the consumer and the breathing public is so enormous I hope it bankrupts VW as a lesson to anyone else watching.

Instead of putting 750,000 people out of work, and relieving millions of innocent stockholders of their life savings, why not just put everyone involved in jail for a few years, then forbid them to ever work in the auto industry?

Otherwise, the perpetrators will take their golden parachutes and live better than any of us...

[Toany]

Those engines are filthy polluters and there are 11 million of them out there. Removing the cheating software won't clean up the engines. They all need to go to the scrapyard at the Germans' expense. The scope of this ripoff to the consumer and the breathing public is so enormous I hope it bankrupts VW as a lesson to anyone else watching.

Instead of putting 750,000 people out of work, and relieving millions of innocent stockholders of their life savings, why not just put everyone involved in jail for a few years, then forbid them to ever work in the auto industry?

Otherwise, the perpetrators will take their golden parachutes and live better than any of us...

People will still buy cars, just buy less VWs. So for every person losing a job, another one will be employed. Maybe not in Germany. But VW brought the problem on themselves and Germany. One persons loss is another persons gain. Flagrant dishonesty should have dire consequences for all involved.

[wabothai]

It's not only VW, many other carmakers.

[impulse]

Those engines are filthy polluters and there are 11 million of them out there. Removing the cheating software won't clean up the engines. They all need to go to the scrapyard at the Germans' expense. The scope of this ripoff to the consumer and the breathing public is so enormous I hope it bankrupts VW as a lesson to anyone else watching.

Instead of putting 750,000 people out of work, and relieving millions of innocent stockholders of their life savings, why not just put everyone involved in jail for a few years, then forbid them to ever work in the auto industry?

Otherwise, the perpetrators will take their golden parachutes and live better than any of us...

People will still buy cars, just buy less VWs. So for every person losing a job, another one will be employed. Maybe not in Germany. But VW brought the problem on themselves and Germany. One persons loss is another persons gain. Flagrant dishonesty should have dire consequences for all involved.

So, for the sins of a few dozen people involved (maybe a few hundred), you'd punish millions of innocents? Bet you'd feel different if you had a ton of VW stock paying for your retirement.

Edited September 30, 2015 by impulse

[Toany]

Those engines are filthy polluters and there are 11 million of them out there. Removing the cheating software won't clean up the engines. They all need to go to the scrapyard at the Germans' expense. The scope of this ripoff to the consumer and the breathing public is so enormous I hope it bankrupts VW as a lesson to anyone else watching.

Instead of putting 750,000 people out of work, and relieving millions of innocent stockholders of their life savings, why not just put everyone involved in jail for a few years, then forbid them to ever work in the auto industry?

Otherwise, the perpetrators will take their golden parachutes and live better than any of us...

People will still buy cars, just buy less VWs. So for every person losing a job, another one will be employed. Maybe not in Germany. But VW brought the problem on themselves and Germany. One persons loss is another persons gain. Flagrant dishonesty should have dire consequences for all involved.

So, for the sins of a few dozen people involved (maybe a few hundred), you'd punish millions of innocents? Bet you'd feel different if you had a ton of VW stock paying for your retirement.

I would feel very different if I had bought a VW. The guilty should end up broke and in jail. Millions of people have bought VW cars and they will pay.

Edited September 30, 2015 by Toany

[bangon04]

"The company said it would present authorities with its "technical solutions and measures" to fix the problem in October"

so the problem can be solved by technical solutions. The implication is that they have to technology to make the engines perform correctly without the cheating software. However they chose to install the cheating software instead.

[copa8]

I own one of the 2012 Jetta TDI diesels in question. I paid over $3000cdn premium price, strictly strictly for the TDI diesel engine option. As far as I am concerned VW has committed fraud and the CEO of VW has admitted to that in public.

I do not want and will refuse the software update as I am perfectly happy with my diesel mileage the way it is. I get approximately 1200kms per tank on the highway and up to 900kms per tank in the city. The low end torque on the TDI engine means that almost nothing passes me on the highway and it is oh so peppy in the city.

Anyone want to complain about pollution...speak to the Chinese!

Did they bitch about the exported pollution from the West via its factories?

[NeverSure]

Those engines are filthy polluters and there are 11 million of them out there. Removing the cheating software won't clean up the engines. They all need to go to the scrapyard at the Germans' expense. The scope of this ripoff to the consumer and the breathing public is so enormous I hope it bankrupts VW as a lesson to anyone else watching.

Instead of putting 750,000 people out of work, and relieving millions of innocent stockholders of their life savings, why not just put everyone involved in jail for a few years, then forbid them to ever work in the auto industry?

Otherwise, the perpetrators will take their golden parachutes and live better than any of us...

In a capitalist system, losers are supposed to fail.

That leaves more room for winners to create the jobs and make the profits.

Anyone who put his life savings into one company is another one who may well fail. Long term that's especially true if it's a German company. The Germans don't play fair when they are trying to take over the world or Europe or in this case international auto manufacturing.

Up until now Volkswagen has been the largest auto maker in the world. They really didn't have to cheat on 11 million cars (minimum) to be competitive.

Let the loser fail and others will take its place. I hope at the least that the market decides to stop buying those filthy, overpriced, POS cars.

Cheers.

PS: Volkswagen manufactures cars in the US to supply the world's largest auto market. I guarantee you they are in deep shit. Guaranteed.

Edited September 30, 2015 by NeverSure

[Toany]

I have seen reports that there will be up to 20% drop in performance.

[Seastallion]