The full truth is coming out now about the Volkswagon diesel miracle emissions debacle and I must say it is going to get ugly. Of course, somehow the charts seemed to know this in advance. Had I been watching this thing, below is the count I would have given it. We had a clear rising wedge WCB into early 2014 that fell off into 5 clear waves down into green 1. Then 3 waves up into a deep vee green 2 that formed a DDT. Then 5 small waves down into lime green 1, a small move up into lime green 2 and now we have to expect a gap down as a result of the admission of purposely gaming the emissions measurements.
If you haven't had time to check the story, the bottom line is that the cars had software running on their engine controllers that detected the connection of the emissions measuring equipment and under those circumstances the combustion was modified in order to meet emissions. Doing so reduced engine output but hey, how would anyone know this when the car is just idling in the service bay being tested?
Whether it is fair or not and whether or not my German readers like it, the herd is going to treat this as a major black eye for all of "German engineering". Let's face it, that's just how the herd rolls. If an entire group of people (not necessarily Germans in this case but certainly German engineers) can be painted with a positive brush based on the achievements of a few, it can be be smeared with the same brush based on the malfeasance of a few. Volkswagon is Germany to many around the world. Again, I did not say this was fair or even intelligent but all German brands are going to suffer from this major, major display of disrespect of the rule of law and for it's customers who thought they were doing the right thing by the environment for buying these products based on low emissions claims.
Hmmm, might be able to afford some of the German finest cars now...
ReplyDeleteIf course, it's the charts, stupid! VW has been doing this since 2009, but, in spite of several anecdotal evidences since, only last year did someone fork over the bucks to verify the emissions of some VW models. Still, it took almost a year for the state and federal regulators to act on the information provided to them. Dem charten, ja?
BTW, remember this the next time someone rolls his about diesel engines not being popular in the US. Unlike in Europe, such engines have to comply with the same emissions limits as gas engines, which is harder and more expensive. Even though a diesel model costs at least €1000 more, this can be recouped in most cases, thanks to favorable fiscal treatment of diesel fuel in many European countries. If just the price at the pump makes it harder to recoup the premium of a diesel engine in the US, if it has to be increased because of extra equipment to treat the exhaust, it's a dead deal.