I'm rubbing my eyes, a Dutchman defending deutsche carmakers caught cheating? The world is off-kilter ...
Some hilarious comments here, love the Volkswagen choo-choo and "Vorsprung durch sleight-of-software" - you guys are a hoot!
Dave, that comment on GM was nasty, you know how I was raised on GM money! They also paid for my visit of The American School of Kinshasa and if it hadn't been for that I would have probably never gotten to know Loggins & Messina and Three Dog Night!
Back to the topic. I'm not surprised (except a little at the uproar): In my cynical world view I take it for granted that all auto makers - except for Rolls Royce and Ferrari who say: "If you ask that question you should maybe get another car." - lie about fuel consumption. I've never driven a car anyway near the proclaimed fuel consumption nor do I know anyone who has. Similarly, I naturally assumed that all the carbon emmission values thing is bullshit too - as an owner of both Status and Parker basses my carbon footprint is in any case irrelevant to me and should well be nor have I ever given a thought whether my 300 hp bi-turbo Volvo is good for the environment, it sure is no fuel-saver! - and that the testing is geared to deliver certain results (my brother is a learned car mechanic, ok?). Did others do it as well? Most likely. Does that exculpate Volkswagen? Not a bit. But I won't lose any sleep over it, they'll survive, they can still produce good cars (although I hated my beetle even back then, crap car) in good quality and as I said: My heart beats DNA-ingrained for GM. Detroit is closer to me than Wolfsburg (I've been to Detroit, but never been to Wolfsburg, it is unfathomable to me what would possess someone to go there
).
The fact that their stock value slumps to 60% because of this just confirms to me once more that the world of stock trading is a madhatters' casino.
Did I mention that I hate the look of a Golf? It's the P Bass of cars.
Volkswagen will now receive/are now receiving a horrendous amount of stick, but they have resilience. May 1945 was worse after all.