News is breaking that VW cheated on gasoline car emissions in addition to the already-revealed diesel cheating (“Dieselgate”). Bloomberg reports “Gasgate” affects the VW group’s 1.4-liter gasoline engine. The 800,000 European market cars emit more carbon dioxide and achieve fewer miles per gallon (MPG) than the automaker stated when the cars were certified.
Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man. VW wasn’t doing one bad, bad thing, they were doing several bad things.
What does management know? It seems like they were kept in the dark about the emissions-cheating software. Or at least that what they want us to think.
Meanwhile, VW stock is getting (re) hammered, now 39% below its price before Dieselgate.
The latest issues affect Volkswagen’s Polo, Golf and Passat models, Audi’s subcompact A1 and A3 hatchback, the Skoda Octavia, and the Seat Ibiza and Leon, with most in Europe. While smaller diesel motors account for the vast majority of affected cars, a specific type of 1.4-liter gasoline engine is also involved, the company said. Germany’s Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that 98,000 gasoline cars are affected.
atw Commentary
Whatever the case, our question at atw is this:
- All this stuff is easily verified. CO2, MPG, etc… science gave us the tools to measure these things roughly a hundred years ago. Why were our governments, so stuffed with regulatory money, not testing these cars? Why were they taking VW’s word for it?
That’s it. Just one question. We don’t get it. A couple smart ten-year-olds could test fuel efficiency, given a legal driver. The carbon dioxide and diesel cheats are also easily tested, relatively speaking. Although those would require high school age kids.
