Do you have an agent who is friends with Len? If so, you should have talk with them about promotion. Otherwise…
Maybe you should give Chris Roberts a call.
Is this maybe one of the greatest examples of Karma? I mean i loved my Camper Van, but i knew where it all started…
I doubt VW employees many octogenarian war criminals these days.
Like Enron, I imagine the demographic skews more towards decent people unaware of corporate maleficence wondering if they’re going to still be able to feed their kids in a year.
Volkswagen has admitted that its 2016 vehicles contain more software which could help them beat emission controls tests.
The German auto giant has confirmed that the diesel vehicles are fitted with an “auxiliary emissions control device” which is different to the “defeat devices” which caused VW’s share price to plunge by 40pc and cost the chief executive his job.[…]
The new software causes the catalyst which reduces the amount of pollution the engines pump out to heat up faster, improving the its ability to limit Nox emissions.
A spokesman for the car maker said it first told the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California regulators about the existence of the latest software last week.
Regulators have yet to rule if the latest software is specifically to beat tests but all such devices have to be revealed to authorities if cars are to receive the certification required for them to go on sale in the US.
That one does not seem like a problem. The catalyst device is there to do a function (help reduce emissions), they have just optimsed getting it to operating temperature, where it is most efficient at doing it’s function. Nothing untoward there, unless it is another system that is only activated during tests, but the article does not imply that.
The law firms here (northern Vermont, where environment-consciousness is a religion) are already getting their class action suits into the mix. Many of the initiators are business owners and other well-off members of the economic elite, and the law firms are high-powered ones, with former US attorneys and other heavy hitters leading the charge. They’ve also got the Congressional delegation (ok, it’s one guy, Peter Welch) in on the action, with legislation designed to prevent VW or other companies from writing off Federal penalties on their taxes. Stuff like that. Multiply this by all the other states where similar things are happening, and one area of VW not in any danger of layoffs is legal…at least, the part not tainted with signing off on the crimes in the first place I guess.
No actual action from VW for me yet, but I did get a nice “please don’t stop buying VWs!” letter this week. It had a $500 prepaid Visa in it, $500 to spend in an VW dealership, (finally, I can get the 17" camo-effect titanium rims for my station wagon), and three years of free roadside assistance.
Not bad, VW. What else you got?
From what I read, those cards come with the caveat that by accepting them you agree to not sue VW. At least, that’s what the NYT story I read said.
Maybe they backed off after the initial publicity or something. Either way, good for you!
Why 120,000?
Because the other 300,000 are unnaturally suspicious of free stuff? That’s why I didn’t immediately sign my name on the website for my sweet rims.
I think that $1000, no strings attached, peace offering is pretty nice. Especially since they are gonna eventually settle a class action and probably agree to some kind of buy back on top of it.
A quick blurb on the US lawsuit filed against VW today. I think that’s like, $20 billion or something? If I were VW, would I think that was a lot of money?
I mean, yes, in that it’s a lot more than they’ve provisioned for (EUR 6.7bn), but they explicitly stated that that figure didn’t cover litigation, and it seems like the non-litigation costs are going to be lower than expected. It seems to be at the top end of analysts’ expectations, but not massively over. In context, VW’s pre-provision operating profit last quarter (up to the end of September, so before the full impact on sales was felt) was EUR 3.2bn. It’s a lot of money, but the company throws off a lot of cash and it has EUR 23bn of cash equivalent assets on hand.
Rather blatant politics with the filing in Michigan.
Volkswagen is a huge corporation, but $20 billion is a lot - especially since it’s not fully clear yet, how much the fallout will end up costing them. You know, the fixing process, the logistics of that, the compensation, the marketing money and other incentives that will have to be spent over the next years, and–of course–the sales drop.
They’ve already taken a loan to the tune of €20b in late 2015 to prepare for what’s to come.
Could you explain this, please? (or give a link or something)
You know, Michigan, home of the US auto industry. Detroit specifically. You think of all the possible places the EPA could have filed, they chose the place that would most like to undermine VW by accident? I mean, it’s their right, but it’s almost comically blatant.
To elaborate on my earlier comment re: the $20bn, here are some numbers from one research house: estimated ability to raise cash - EUR 55bn; estimated costs - EUR 13bn to EUR 40bn.