The Peoples Car

Those were the days when ….

Bugs, beetles, bubbles, fleas, frogs, hunchbacks, ladybugs, tortoises and turtles were names associated with the “Peoples Car”. Designed in the late thirties and mass produced in the mid forties the Volkswagen became the longest running and most manufactured car of all time. Type Two came out in the late forties, a people mover, nicknamed “The Bully” but known as the Kombi. It became the “cult” car in the sixties with its association to hippies, and the surfing dudes. In 1972 VW celebrated selling 15 million “Peoples Cars”. The Beatle made it to Hollywood. Herbie “The Love Bug” and later the animated “Cars” epitomized the Bugs image. Inevitably, VW developed other models to boost sales. The Golf was an instant success. Passats, Jettas and the VW produced Audi A3’s soon followed. The VW Group grew and grew.

Diesel engines arrived. Marketers spewed talk about fuel economy and improved emissions. Governments bought into this idea. The USA established the “Environmental Protection Agency” which set more and more stringent controls on emissions over the years. It so happened that the VW Group produced diesel versions of the Golf, Passat, Jetta and Audi A3. To lure customers the promotion of low emissions and fuel economy was taken to the extreme. Marketers and/or engineers or some of them or someone at VW devised a device to override results of emission tests. Simply put these devices showed acceptable emission levels that were in fact unacceptable. The EPA pounced and discovered VW’s variance. It soon became evident that many of these VW diesel vehicles are involved, about 11 million world-wide. VW’s liability in the USA alone is a staggering 18 billion.

All other Auto manufactures will be frisked. Time will tell who is guilty. In the mean time investigations continue and it may be awhile before it all settles.

Das Auto. Das Kaput?

I don’t’ think so. VW and others will emerge in a different legal format, the debt parked in a disabled spot waiting for a ticket to some wise tax structured transaction. Car adverts will continue unabated.

Interesting that Ferdinand Porsche helped design that first Bug and now the ex Porsche CEO is steering the VW Group through the legal morass and restoring the trust the public once held. Porsche is the major shareholder of the VW Group owning 32% of the company. In some way VW will be towed by Porsche to the body shop from where it will emerge with no omission of emissions and continue down the road.