Volkswagen diesel scandal
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A second former Volkswagen Group employee has received a prison sentence in relation to the automaker’s diesel emissions cheating scandal. German citizen Oliver Schmidt was sentenced on Wednesday by United States District Court Judge Sean Cox to seven years in prison for his involvement in the scandal. Schmidt was also ordered to pay fines of $400,000. It follows the sentence of 40 months in prison and $200,000 in fines handed to fellow German citizen James Liang in August. Liang was among the VW engineers that had helped develop the defeat device software designed to hide emissions...
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End of an era as Ferdinand Piëch finally cut ties with VW Group
Two years ago, Ferdinand Piëch, then chairman of the Volkswagen Group, resigned from his post following a public spat with Martin Wintekorn, who was the automaker’s CEO at the time. The 80-year-old has now cut all ties with the VW Group by offloading his sizable stake in Porsche...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Volkswagen Group decides to keep Ducati
The Volkswagen Group has ruled out selling Ducati following strong opposition from the Italian motorcycle brand’s labor union, FIOM CIGL. Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali made the announcement to staff on Friday, union representative Bruno Papignani confirmed to Bloomberg. Helping to sway the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Report: Former Porsche R&D chief arrested in connection to diesel scandal
Former Porsche R&D chief Wolfgang Hatz who stepped down in the wake of the diesel scandal afflicting the Volkswagen Group has been arrested in Germany as part of an investigation into the scandal by local prosecutors, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. German business...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW engineer receives 40-month prison term, $200,000 fine for diesel scandal
Former Volkswagen engineer and German citizen James Liang was sentenced on Friday in a Detroit court to 40 months in prison and given a fine of $200,000 for his involvement in the Volkswagen Group’s diesel scandal. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox and was...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
German Chancellor Merkel says non-electrified cars will be phased out, but won’t say when
Governments, particularly in Europe, are under pressure to curb emissions. In July, both France and the United Kingdom agreed to ban the sale of cars powered solely by gasoline or diesel by 2040. But the government in Germany, a country perhaps more closely linked with its auto industry than any...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Automakers have spent billions developing diesel engines to help meet tougher carbon dioxide (CO2) emission standards, so understandably they aren’t willing to walk away from the technology just yet. But diesels are very much on the nose in the wake of the Volkswagen Group scandal, with some cities, including Stuttgart, home to Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, taking steps to ban diesel cars because of the harmful effects of their emissions, particularly nitrogen oxides (NOx), on health and the environment. The German government is under extra pressure to take action after the BMW Group and...
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Porsche Cayenne recalled in Europe due to diesel cheating concerns
Following a recent probe, Germany’s official transport authority, the KBA, on Thursday ordered Porsche to recall 22,000 Cayenne SUVs across Europe after discovering emissions cheating software. The recalled Cayennes are those examples fitted with a 3.0-liter diesel engine, the same fitted to...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW Group, Daimler and BMW accused of cartel behavior
As investigations into diesel-emission cheating deepen, accusations have arisen that the Volkswagen Group, Daimler and the BMW Group may have colluded on development of diesel engines and other areas. Germany’s Der Spiegel reported on Friday that starting in the 1990s, the three automakers...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Porsche probed, ex-Audi manager arrested for fraud and false advertising
Further investigations into the Volkswagen Group’s diesel scandal have led to the arrest of a former Audi manager as well as a probe into Porsche by investigators in Germany. Both instances involve allegations of fraud and false advertising relating to diesel emissions. In the case of...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Opel CEO Neumann steps down, is tipped to take lead role at Audi
Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann confirmed on Monday he is stepping down. He will remain a member of the board until after General Motors’ sale of Opel to French auto giant PSA Group is completed. The sale was announced in March and is expected to close in the coming months. Neumann's replacement...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Report: Porsche being investigated for defeat device in Germany
The Volkswagen Group’s diesel scandal is finally starting to settle here in the United States but over in Europe things are flaring up again. This time it’s the Audi and Porsche brands in the crossfire. Germany’s Wirtschaftswoche reported on Friday that Porsche is being...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Müller is in legal hot water for the first time due to an investigation into whether he adequately disclosed information on the diesel emissions cheating scandal to shareholders. Bloomberg reports that German prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether Müller should have been quicker to notify shareholders of Porsche SE, the holding company that owns the biggest stake in VW Group, about the scandal. Müller replaced Martin Winterkorn as VW Group CEO in late 2015. He was previously the head of the Porsche brand as well as a board member at...
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Report: Volkswagen Group mulls Ducati sale
Facing costs exceeding $20 billion in the United States alone due to its diesel emissions scandal, plus a hefty bill to develop new electric car technology, the Volkswagen Group has been cutting back on staff and niche products to preserve cash. There’s always been talk that the VW Group...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW pleads guilty to diesel scandal felonies
The Volkswagen Group on Friday pleaded guilty to three felony charges relating to its diesel emissions cheating scandal as part of January’s settlement with the Justice Department and Customs and Border Protection regarding any criminal misconduct tied with the scandal. The charges included...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW rejects diesel scandal allegations made by former chairman
The Volkswagen Group released a statement on Wednesday denying allegations made by former Chairman Ferdinand Piech regarding knowledge among the automaker’s senior staff of the diesel scandal before it became public in September 2015. Piech, along with his extended family, is a major...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW agrees to $1.2B settlement with owners of 3.0-liter diesels
Volkswagen on Wednesday announced it reached proposed agreements to resolve outstanding civil claims in the United States from owners of approximately 78,000 vehicles fitted with 3.0-liter diesel engines found to be equipped with the “defeat device” software at the heart of the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
6 VW execs charged, including former R&D boss
On the same day that Volkswagen agreed to plead guilty to three felony counts and pay fines totaling $4.3 billion to the Justice Department and Customs and Border Protection regarding criminal misconduct linked with the diesel scandal, the Justice Department confirmed that six executives have been...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
The Volkswagen Group has reached agreement on another part of its diesel emissions scandal in the United States, at least as far as regulators are concerned. Having already settled with EPA officials and its customers regarding its 2.0-liter and 3.0-liter diesel engines—which in 2015 were found to use “defeat device” software to hide their true emission levels from regulators—the German automaker said it had reached a settlement with the Justice Department and Customs and Border Protection regarding criminal misconduct tied with the scandal. UPDATE: VW released a...
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Report: VW nearing $3B settlement with Justice Department over Dieselgate
Volkswagen may be nearing a settlement over its criminal and civil investigations with the U.S. Department of Justice for $3 billion, Reuters reported. The agreement hasn't yet been finalized but could be announced as early as next week, according to the report. A spokesman for Volkswagen declined...
Aaron Cole -
VW reaches $1B settlement for cars with 3.0-liter diesels
The Volkswagen Group on Tuesday announced it reached a $1 billion settlement with regulators in the United States to resolve claims related to its vehicles fitted with 3.0-liter diesel engines. The settlement still needs to be approved by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer, who is presiding over...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW, Audi, Porsche reportedly racing for resources in boardroom battle royale
Now that Audi and Porsche won't be fighting for LeMans titles, the brands have taken their epic battle to the boardroom to compete for dwindling research and program cash, according to a Reuters report. According to sources within the Volkswagen Group's C-suite, the brands are each vying for a...
Aaron Cole -
VW rules out diesels for US while confirming North American electric car production
As it continues to deal with its diesel emissions scandal and push into electric cars, the Volkswagen Group in the past week has been making statements on future strategy. On Friday we learned that the automaker planned to shed around 30,000 jobs over the coming years as it scales back production...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
VW Group to reduce workforce by 30,000
Volkswagen on Friday announced plans to significantly reduce its workforce over the coming years as it deals with its costly diesel emissions scandal and push into electric cars. The cuts are expected to total 30,000, with 23,000 of these to be made in Germany. VW says the cuts are to be made in a...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran