VW caught by the Yanks for breaking emission laws

OdD that no-one has picked up on those elephants wandering about in the room... such as perceived corporate honesty..- Anyone here want to buy a second-hand VW fitted with a DSG transmission ? Or a certain brand of oriental vehicle that is "suspected" of having a dodgy 'fly-by-wire' accelerator ?

Or - hypocritally for the Americans, one product of GM and FORD respectively, being 'Unsafe and any speed' / prone to accident-induced fuel-fed fire... The Pinto Fire Controversy - HowStuffWorks

That reference is educational, as it puts numbers onto what a human life may be (legally-speaking) worth, as against the co$t required to mitigate the problem, maybe even solving it totally.

On the other hand, Big Business is responding to outside pressures... One might wonder how realistic - or fair- are the continually stricter pollution rules on cars... Pollution during a TEST is one thing, Real Life is another.
- The VW passed the TEST... :angel: :wasntme:

Yes, there are definitely big questions here about the corporate culture within VW. If some people in a company think its OK to deliberately cheat government laws designed to keep the air we breathe clean, then something is seriously wrong with the corporate culture.
I've been on boards of directors. My role was to test the status quo, ask hard questions and ensure the company's executives were leading it in ways which would ensure its future.
Corporate culture starts at the top and works its way down so, even if the 20 VW board members didn't know about the cheat software, they are still ultimately responsible for overseeing a corporate culture in which some people thought cheating was OK.
As board members it was their role to prevent actions being taken which, as we now know, are going to cost VW dearly, both in cash and, more importantly, in damage to its global reputation. VW could lose its position as the world's largest automaker because of this controversy. Over at Toyota, they must be quietly gleeful.
I bet all around the world now the directors of other vehicle manufacturers are interrogating their executives to make damm sure no-one else is using emissions cheating software. If I was one of those directors, that's exactly what I would be doing.
I thought this was a good opinion piece from a respected person:
BBC - Capital - The people who could

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

then something is seriously wrong with the corporate culture.

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they have the correct corporate culture.

shareholders first
everyone else second

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Originally Posted by Eevo

they have the correct corporate culture.

shareholders first
everyone else second

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I doubt the shareholders are going to thank them if the company goes under and the shareholders lose their investments. ;)

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Originally Posted by Eevo

they have the correct corporate culture.

shareholders first
everyone else second

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If what you say is true, how has the board put shareholder interest above everything else - by circumventing the law, trashing the reputation of the company, exposing the company to crippling law suits and ultimately destroying shareholder wealth?

I think they have actually failed shareholders, certainly not put them first.

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Originally Posted by BMKal

I doubt the shareholders are going to thank them if the company goes under and the shareholders lose their investments. ;)

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that wont happen.

1) they have punched the numbers.
the increased sales is more than the fine and lawsuits.

2) if not, the govt will bail them out

3) VW will be able to promote themselves as coming clean. mistakes were made, etc etc. and increase sales in the long run.

I think a few in here live in fantasy land... :angel::cool:

Eevo spelt it out.. Shareholders first, All else second...
Thats where most peoples super comes from.

Wont happen....

VW will quickly bounce back from this - offer up a patsy, become a good corporate citizen for a while...

And if they decide to play the game - will out all the other manufactures..

True.................again.:)

lets tak this piece by piece.

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Originally Posted by Ferret

- by circumventing the law,

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the fine is small in comparison to the money made.
lots of big companies do it. including most of the top ten australian companies.

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Originally Posted by Ferret

trashing the reputation of the company

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with correct PR, VM will come out of this with a better reputation

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Originally Posted by Ferret

exposing the company to crippling law suits and ultimately destroying shareholder wealth?

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crippling, lol. the payout will be a drop in the ocean.




people are not rioting in the streets over this.
the govt has not taken existing cars off the road or banned the bad VW's from being driven.