Volkswagen responds to accusations of falsifying the data for its diesel engines

The falsified data provided by Volkswagen over recent months has had serious repercussions for the German company. The main one is a loss of prestige and discredit that has spread across the whole world and, worse still, throughout the entire automotive industry. That said, what has happened needs to be put into perspective and context.

The cars affected by the software that supplied erroneous data on polluting gas emissions were on sale in the US market. Everything suggested it was a fraud in which attempts were made to falsify that data in order to obtain homologation in the United States. At first, the affected cars appeared to number 498,000 units, but in a statement in which the German company admitted its fault, the figure rose to 11 million vehicles.

Undoubtedly, this has been a very hard blow for the company, which has been left completely discredited. The authorities in Germany, France and Italy have ordered an in-depth investigation into the cars sold in their territories. This could push the figure up somewhat further and the penalties could end up sinking the company’s accounts, as well as its reputation, for many years to come.

In fact, on the stock market losses are estimated at almost 27,000 million dollars, to which must be added the 7,200 million euros that have been set aside to cover the direct costs arising from this crisis.

Since Volkswagen have made public a statement announcing their response to this situation so anomalous. According to it, the diesel engines that comply with the EURO 6 standard do so scrupulously, and there is no problem for European users. The affected engines are the Type EA 189 units, and no other type of engine is involved. This is fitted to the Jetta, Beetle, Audi 3, Golf and Passat models manufactured from 2008 onwards.

The brand’s swift reaction in acknowledging the cheat, with a mea culpa that does not exempt them from responsibility. The head of the brand, Martin Winterkorn, who had only recently taken the position of chief executive, has been dismissed with immediate effect, and the brand faces the most serious reputation crisis in its history. Certainly, although only certain specific models are affected, Volkswagen will take a long time to recover its image of practical, reliable cars with the best engines. A serious, deliberate mistake that demonstrates once again that shortcuts are not always the best route.