This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
As Worldwide Sales Collapse, VW's Dieselgate Scandal Could Cost Up To $87 Billion In Total
On the day when embattled German auto giant Volkswagen admits that worldwide sales of its VW passenger cars were down 4.0% in September (and also down 4.7% in the first nine months of the year)...
Commercial vehicles collapsed...
Up to the end of September 2015, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles delivered 321,300 urban delivery vans, Transporters and pick-ups all over the world. The brand's deliveries therefore continue to be at the level of the previous year (January to September 2014: 324,800, -1.1 per cent).
In the West European markets deliveries fell by 0.2 per cent to 212,500 deliveries (213,000). In Germany deliveries fell by 5.6 per cent to 81,000 vehicles (85,800). There was once again a clear growth in sales in the United Kingdom with an increase of 13.1 per cent to 38,500 vehicles (34,050). In Spain, too, the brand's sales increased by 8.5 per cent to 7,200 deliveries (6,600).
In Eastern Europe deliveries fell by 21.2 per cent as at September to 21,800 vehicles (27,600). In the Middle East 26,000 vehicles were delivered – 43.8 per cent more than the previous year (18,100). In Mexico deliveries rose by 8.9 per cent to 4,800 vehicles (4,400).
In South America Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles delivered 27,700 vehicles (30,000; -7.7 per cent). The brand's deliveries in Brazil fell by 34.2 per cent to 9,100 vehicles (13,900). 14,500 vehicles were delivered on the Argentinian market, an increase of 13.0 per cent (12,850).
We thought it worth a look at just what VW faces...
Submitted by Gaurav Agnihotri via OilPrice.com,
The Volkswagen emission scandal (commonly known as Dieselgate) has shocked the entire world. It all began on September 18, 2015 when the German carmaker was charged for violating the Clean Air Act by the United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA).
Volkswagen’s turbodiesel models were found to be programmed with a ‘defeat device’ that would block the emission controls during the actual driving and would turn them on only during the emission testing phase itself. The amount of NOx emitted during the day-to-day driving was almost 40 times higher than the prescribed limits. With 11 million Volkswagen diesel vehicles being fitted with this ‘defeat device,’ there is little doubt that the VW Dieselgate could be one of the biggest scandals of all time.
How much could this scandal cost VW?

"The market does not appear to be discounting negative knock-on effects. The outcome for recall costs and fines is unclear and largely depends on the engine performance post repair," said a Credit Suisse analyst in its report on the scandal. Estimates from Credit Suisse peg the costs of Dieselgate at a worst-case scenarios of $87 billion.
This would make the VW scandal almost 60 percent more costly than the BP Deepwater Horizon spill. Although the German car maker has allocated around $7.3 billion for dealing with the scandal, it could end up paying more than ten times the allocated amount.
Furthermore, the potential $87 billion in losses would be almost 7 times the German automaker’s net profit for 2014. The $87 billion figure from Credit Suisse includes costs related to owner re-imbursements, civil-criminal cases and fixing the emission problem. However, according to Credit Suisse, the biggest cost for VW would be to compensate for the ‘loss of value’ to the owners of the affected diesel cars, and this could be as high as $37 billion.
Moreover, it would be extremely difficult for VW to repair the damage that has been done to its global brand image after this incident, potentially costing the carmaker even more in the years ahead. There is little doubt that Dieselgate has the potential to completely shatter VW’s financial and brand value.
In a more modest case, Credit Suisse estimates that the damages could reach $26 billion, again more than three times what VW has set aside.
VW scandal could be even bigger than Enron Scandal and BP Deepwater Scandal combined
The Enron scandal of 2001 was one of the biggest and most expensive corporate scandals in U.S. history and it resulted in the collapse of Enron Corp., in wiping out close to $60 billion of its market value. The Enron scandal also wiped out almost $2.1 billion of retirement funds and around 5,600 jobs.
The recent BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill is yet another major scandal, one which could cost the oil giant more than $20 billion in form of fines and payments. However, with potential losses of close to $87 billion (as a worst case scenario estimate), the current VW scandal could actually be even bigger than the Enron scandal and BP scandal combined.
Can VW exploit any loopholes?
The year 2015 has witnessed the biggest out of court settlement of a single entity with the U.S. Department of Justice. Oil giant British Petroleum (BP) is compelled to pay $20.8 billion for charges imposed on it after its 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that claimed 11 lives. Although that appears to be a staggering sum, BP will be able to write off $15.3 billion as tax deductible, significantly limiting the losses to the British oil giant.
BP would be able to write off the payments related to restoration, natural resource damage and government re-imbursements, thereby leaving only $5.5 billion as a non-tax deductible sum (which is related to the violation of ‘Clean Water Act’).
“BP was found to be grossly negligent in the Deepwater Horizon case, and yet the vast majority of what they are paying to make up for their gross negligence is legally considered just business as usual under the tax code unless the DOJ explicitly prohibits a write-off. This not only sends the wrong message, but it also hurts taxpayers by forcing us to shoulder the burden of BP’s tax windfall in the form of higher taxes, cuts to public programs, and more national debt,” said Michelle Surka of U.S Public Research Interest Group.
Is it possible for VW to find a similar kind of tax relief?
What Volkswagen might end up paying
VW will have to pay for government penalties, the loss of value to its customers in forms of recalls, legal fees and will have to deal with the loss of future sales and eroded brand value. VW could face an $18 billion penalty from the EPA according to a report from Reuters. Even European countries like the UK (where citizens received tax incentives for buying a VW diesel car) are looking to impose similar penalties on the German automaker. Moreover, with close to 11 million VW cars being affected by Dieselgate, the cost of recalls and legal cases could run into billions of dollars.
However, the U.S. tax code allows replacement, reimbursements and monetary compensation as costs of doing business, thereby making them tax deductible (unless otherwise mentioned in the agreement). Even penalties and fines are considered tax deductible. This means that VW might not have to pay $87 billion (as estimated by Credit Suisse) after all, but it doesn’t mean that the company can easily get away with the scandal.
Although VW has announced plans to make a significant change in its diesel technology in addition to pushing the development of its Electric Vehicles, it will be extremely difficult for it to re-build its lost reputation in the auto industry. With net cash in hand of around $28 billion, the German carmaker needs to raise a lot of cash to stay afloat in the years ahead. VW shares have already collapsed by more than 35 percent since the scandal broke, and the $7.3 billion that it has kept aside for Dieselgate will not be enough given the possibility of paying almost 3-4 times the said amount (similar to the conservative estimate put across by Credit Suisse) even when we consider any possible tax deductions. The coming few months will greatly impact the future of the German car manufacturer.
- 19669 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -



I'm buying diesel VWs from now on.
Pound sign DieselVWLivesMatter
Me too.
On an aside, MANY MANY MANY MANY various German pension funds are dependent on VW stock & debt. If the US pushes VW into bankruptcy over this, it will make millions of people over here irate.
Time to get a new Passat TDI.
i've been eyeballing a Golf R. if VW is in deep $hit, i hope that there's a liquidation sale!
No you don't.
Liquidation sale means they aren't coming back.
If they cheated to get through emissions that means the engine in those things probably runs REALLY WELL the rest of the time. I'm thinking of stockpiling a few if I can pick them up cheap. Would love to put one of those things in a Dune Buggy or some other kind of off-road vehicle. It'd probably last forever.
Maybe put one in a Prius, for deep-cover ops in hostile (liberal) areas.
First car I ever drove was a VW dune buggy when I was thirteen. Come to think of it, the first car I ever wrecked was a VW dune buggy.
It has become popular to put the older VW diesel engine into a Suzuki Samurai for a very dependable, tiny, 35mpg, four wheeler that you can run on waste vegetable oil if need be.
Just need to add some stone tires for sakes of stability.
But how do you know if that meets the emission specs laid out by the river-keepers at the EPA? /sarc
Also, throwing the word "gate" at the end of any "scandal" is getting pretty tired. I suggest we do quiddick for a while. Dieselquiddick.
This is the most cocked-up, contrived load of shit I think I've ever seen.
Those emission standards are a lot of anticapitalist nonsense to begin with.
This "collapse" in VW sales is proof positive that a dishearteninly large chunk of our species has drunk the 'progressive' Kool-Aid from a 55 gallon barrel. Because my first thought was "an engine that's designed to lie to .gov?! Fuck yeah, gimme one!!
Last year the employees at VW Tennessee had the gumption to vote "no" on unionizing. That isn't going to win them any favors from the government.
Jim Wilie has a good take on VW technology. GM(gov't Motors) cannot compete, so hadda enact their blocking bullshit.
VW's TDI diesel engines are amazing. I have a 5sp Passat....15 years old, running strong.
US Fed is interested in fucking other countries over.
Our NeoCon gov't are douchebags!
I wonder why the rest of the world doesn't just give the US a big "Fuck You We're Out Of Here" statement and let the bastards start fining their own corrupted home grown businesses.
The Fed controls "the market" through their unlimited power to create electronic money. Dieselgate is an attack on Germany, through VW - the largest auto maker in the world, for the purpose of forcing them to remain under US control, using dollars for trade.
Thus "the market" is used as part of the attack.
Maybe I should get ready for German refugees coming to my part of the south esp those small towns with German heritage . Several german owned plants near already.
And resale value will be like a Yugo used to be.
After they recall and make the car run like crap who will want these?
That was my thought. A mandated recall to pass inspection reducing the advantage of the diesel (fuel economy).
Between the extra cost for diesel and reduced mileage, you lost the main benefit of it.
I looked at them when I read people getting 50 mpg. That is pretty damn good.
pods
I doubt it will 'run like crap' but there could be a hit to performance, then again since we know nothing about what the fix will be it's all just speculation.
I'd want one....
My 2010 Sportwagon gets 52 mpg on the highway. My county doesn't do any emissions testing. I'm proud to say "Fuck the EPA".
they will probably come out with some computer 'fix' that lowers emmisions but also drops 20-25% of fuel economy and makes it slow as hell to. THat fix will probably be mandatory to renew your registration. Not to worry though, you will be able to buy a cheap programmer that will reflash your cars PCM back to how it was before(if not even better) and no one will know about it. It will be just like people do with pickup trucks. Most peoplethat get diesel pickups do an EGR delete pretty soon after buying one, this will probably wind up being the same thing
Exactly. Win-win for VW and aftermarket programers. Go in for emissions test - set to EPATard Mode. Drive away - set to Normal Mode. At 50 mpg these engines put out so little pollution as it is. Just another corrupt gubmint agency run amok. Leave VW the hell alone.
The EPA is the right arm of Obama and his global warming Nazis.
fuck that, go VW. they sold cars that people liked, that performed well and got good millage. Be mad at your nanny state govt for trying to legislate your POV out of existence by making it too expensive for most people to own one. They have already elimintated something like 90% of desiel emmisions and are now moving from 'prudent for clean air' to downright rediculous. This is just what the doctor ordered for furthering govt control over vehicles, though. Don't let thm fool you, the EPA is fuckin' thrilled about this.
I'm ok with fighting the nanny state, I'm ok with calling the laws stupid, I'm NOT ok with cheating.
What's the difference between VW cheating and the Banksters cheating?
Let VW off and the ALL other cheaters will just run wild.
The difference is who are you cheating. I am all for cheating .gov scumbags at the EPA or any other agency. No different from lying to a mugger when he asks "how much money you got". Totally different from cheating individual customers or honest investors/stockholders.
lol @ honest investors/stockholders
VW was trying to cheat a thief...big difference.
I understand you sentiment. But VW cheated to give their customer something that benefited the customer. A better performing car that also gave better gas mileage. The banksters just steal for themselves at a cost to the people.
VW cheating gave them an advantage in competing for customers by giving what the customer wants. Banksters cheating only benefits banksters.
Just in regards to auto emissions. We passed by the point of too little return for the cost of additional emissions requirements on gas powered vehicles long ago. And more recently they passed that point with diesels.
Same for some safety BS. I do not need a buzzer to tell me to buckly the seat belt. Or for my headlights to always be on. Or to have fancy turn signals on my side mirrors (which cost a fortune to replace when vandals knock them off).
Now some leftist state gubmints want GPS trackers in all cars in order to tax the vehicle based on mileage. No... they would NEVER use the GPS tracking information for any other purposes.
"For the children..."
(As gubmint loads each child up with hundreds of thousands of debt that they'll be obligated to pay off)
i just bought a volkswagon passat last weekend
luving it.
If I was in the market and was not worried the govt would force changes to be done to the car I too would buy one of these cars.
As far as Enron and BP. The true costs of those is not what is in the article. Enron pushed the deregulation of the western power grid. BP's unknown costs are the pollution of the gulf and the destruction or pollution of the eco-system. Enron stole billions from the people by manipulation of the cost of power. BP stole the health of the gulf. Personally, I do not buy shrimp or other seafood from the gulf. We do not wish to visit or swim in the gulf even when visiting the region.
The US used the threat of trumped up fines in the billions against an important part of the french economy (and possibly exclusion) to get the french to abide by the wishes of the zionist. Now, Germany is suddenly being brought into line in the same manner.
The french even refused to sell two ships to Russia's military and flew a bombing mission (in Syria I think) to show they would get back to being obedient.
What will be asked of Germany.
Tomorrow at noon I will be buying a 2002 VW Transporter with 5 cylinder swirl chamber engine. OK for 100% veg oil. It can haul my 205hp Ducati or Beemer RR to the south of Europe for a few days of vacation, eventually. Current owner may no longer use the transporter in Berlin because of its 2002 emissions certificate. (It does have a catalytic converter so veggie does not smell) It dont want to enter cities any more. The west is so fucked. We need to rise up asap.
can we assume democrats will just pocket the money? Where did all those wall street fines go?
I hear Prius mostly burn coal. And have trunks that smell
Time for electric.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3DiAecsh_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YIEVdFt0OE
Cars next.
...They come mostly at night. Mostly. [/Newt]
VW is being raped
Edit: And the German people who are dependent on their success
The German people have been raped for close to a century. Massive reparations for supposedly starting two world wars, interminable payments to Holocaust survivors, paying for Club Med infrastructure etc. I suppose they can feel grateful that the Morgenthau Plan wasn't implemented.
This is the scandal that mandates government access to all our cars.
Its such a stupid issue I have a hard time believing it wasn't orchestrated.
Damn I missed that, you're probaby right, never let a "crisis" go to waste. Google OBDIII mandates, real scary stuff. Tax you by the mile.
I only do 288 miles per year, tax by the mile suits me thank you very much.
You could be right on that. They've been wanting to get black boxes in every vehicle, it wouldn't surprise me if they're looking for ways to get inside your car with this scandal.
Fortunately, they would have no reason to get into cars after a certain point, so I could see some things as being exempt. For instance, in diesel where there's only EGR and a passive catalyst.
One reason I'm keeping my 97 TDI. There's a few things I don't want in my car and that would be .gov black boxes, built-in wifi hotspots or anything related to onstar or a similar technology.
And a good reason for me to keep my 1981 VW diesel pickup. 50mpg highway and not a bit of electronics in that engine.
Which brings up a question I have wondered about.
What is the latest (and reliable) model of diesel car brought into the US market that is turbo diesel and does not utilize any electronics for engine mgmt..? (No GM type diesels)
It seems there is even less options for little pickups as Toyota did not bring in their later 4x4's with diesel to the US.
I can't imagine any not using electronic engine management today. You'll probably have to go back about 20 years to get that.
VW should stop selling cars to Americans.
Too right.
VW Audi Porsche needs to get the message - this is not about emissions, this is about destroying their company. They need to withdraw from USA completely.
The Feds knew about this for years and chose their moment to strike when it would do the most harm. Fix emissions and they will find something else illegal.
the US won't return their gold, now the US EPA strikes one of their largest corporations.....sounds like a pivot to Russia my actually benefit Germany. i dunno, all this just sounds like lunacy.
What happens to a car owner in a mandatory emissions-test state--do you have to either fix it or park it? And WTF can you do to actually "fix" a car that in real driving emits at 40x the limit??
VW diesels pass the emissions tests when they turn the pollution equipment on. They go to 40x on the road - when they turn the pollution equipment off. It's just a software fix to leave the equipment turned on.
Problem with this is that your Miles Per Gallon and performance take a nose dive with the sofware in "low emissions" mode... say 40+mpg down into the teens, and "0-60" in 600 seconds... (Hence the owner imparment, you thought you purchased a high mileage low emissions vehicle, only to find out at best you can have a low mileage low emissions vehicle...). At least it's not a safety hazard like some vehicular problems...
You're just speculating, you have no idea what mpg or performance will be like after the fix.
Mpg into the teens is highly unlikely and the performance for 0-60 you suggested is worse than a 1980 Rabbit diesel...these are just wild exagerations.
Do you own one of the affected cars? If you don't then why do you care?
From the post I was replying to...
"It's just a software fix to leave the equipment turned on"
Point being that there's a little bit more to it than just "fixing the software"...
I don't own one of the affected cars, but it does bother me to think that something was openly promoted and sold as being one thing, but quietly engineered to be something else... Makes me want to see some teeth in the sanctions VW gets to serve as a deterrent to whoever makes the next capital item I purchase... (If the punishment is a small fraction of the profit, it becomes "just the cost of doing business", not a deterrent...). I believe that slow death of "the rule of law" it part of the overall problem these days...
The law/emissions levels required may or may not be "stupid" but you shouldn't knowingly disobey the law just because you think it's stupid and you think it's unlikely you will get caught. Campaign to get the law changed if you don't like it, and if your product is not in legal compliance in a given jurisdiction, either get it in compliance, or don't actively sell/market it there...
The German government will nationalize the company to protect it and they will be welcomed as the savior. This is the only way out. Of course it won't be "siezure" just bankruptcy and then an operating loan from the German people in exchange for majority stock just like GM.
VW will get a 'real' fine when Pigs Fly and Hillary goes to jail...
VW will pay. A friend has already joined the federal and a state class action suits. The damages are real.
sounds like typical american thinking, make the lawyers rich
The scandal could bankrupt the company in the US.
They can minimize the effects of bankruptcy by forming a new corporation and asset stripping the old one.
I DIDNT READ THE STORY ...JUST THE HEADLINE.
SAW BIGGER THAN BP OIL SPILL AND STOPPED READING.....BP DIDNT PAY OUT ANYTHING.....hahahahaha all thos ebillions they were setting aside never were set aside. cheating the gov is a bigger scandle than a hole in the ocean it seems....
BP Profits took a dive of about £40 billion in 2010.
But who can trust any figures anywhere any more?
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/BP_(BP)/Data/Gross_Profit
VW is now the number one auto manufacturer in China. Judging by all the haze in China, it's not really surprising, is it?
All the heroes that want to buy a VW NOW, go ahead and put one in your bedroom, lock all the doors and turn the ignition on.
Yes. The haze engulfing urban China is totally because of VW diesels. Totally.
Lurve that /s
Yeah, you'll get high from the nitrous oxide.
Take that Germany. We'll teach you to demand your gold back, you vassal state bitch.
$87 billion is extortion.
Deceiving emissions machines isn't any less transparent than the financial statement deception that goes on around the corporate world.
Quite easy to pull some bullshit figures out of your ass and write an essay essentially saying nothing.
We demand $87 billion in gold marks.
Soooo.....how many people has this dastardly deception by VW killed? How many have been hurt in any way shape or form?
How many people have been killed by GM's faulty ignition switches?
How much was GM punished for that little tidbit of KNOWN defective engineering?
Yeah. But let's really hammer VW, cuz 'clean air' and shit.
NoX really only matters in big cities. Even more specifically it only matters in Cities that trap airborn pollutants like Los Angeles and Mexico City.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOx
Everywhere else in the world it doesn't matter. So, EPA and a few small conditional cities, are the tail wagging the dog.
In a sane world, we would let VW owners get a pass. Those cars in LA or other cities that matter could be re-sold elsewhere at little cost. People elsewhere would love to own the second hand car, and they could drive it till it fell apart.
Owners in those conditional cities could get new cars, while the old VW gets sold elsewhere under caveat it cannot travel to LA, etc. This would be a very low cost, economic solution to the fraud.
In a sane world, we would punish the very few people at top of VW heirarchy who perpetrated fraud. VW Engineers must have been told to design in a defeat code. Do it or else was probably the message from their boss, or you lose your job. Engineers don't normally write code that knowingly is fraud - they are not wired that way. Engineers are problem solvers, not problem creators.
So, somewhere within VW there was a criminal mindset, almost certainly in upper management- root that out.
But, don't punish all the millions of pensioners and others who own stock in the company.
Alas, we don't live in a Sane world, instead a mountain is made out of mole-hill, while much bigger forms of systemic corruption go unnoticed. All the lawyers and parasites will soon come out of the woodwork, and start attacking VW to gain some unearned income. We encourage parasitism.
Systemic fraud and much bigger thefts, like Trillions being stolen by finance via credit money system (bankers and price mechanisms) immediately comes to mind.
VW is really a nothing problem, and symptom of disease. This story is diversion and theatre.
If we dug just a little deeper, we would probably find VW on a debt hook. Debtors are under pressure to make money to then pay off debts to finance and bondholders. Industry is desperate to sell their cars as prices, to then make money to pay off creditors. They feel the need to "gain market share" and grow.
Do the math: 87B/x where X equals the numbers of cars only in problem cities. It is a huge cost number per car.
This diversion of economic outputs through penalties, means that other real advantageous economies are lost - workers in VW future will have to work extra hard to pay off the fines. And then, who benefits from the fines? Regular VW labor in future will be penalized and not get proper cost value for their work efforts.
How many Americans want freedom enough to fight for it? How much longer will they remain chattels to a cartel of bankers and puppet politicians who have denied them the inalienable rights of free men?
Herbert Hoover's incredible warning in his 1935 book, "The Challenge to Liberty," predicted the socialism danger of government's theft of business property rights:
"Over it all is now the daily dictation by Government in every town and village every day in the week, of how men are to conduct their daily lives -- under constant threat of jail, for crimes which have no moral turpitude. All this is the most stupendous invasion of the whole spirit of Liberty that the nation has witnessed since the days of Colonial America."
fucking swat team EPA - dumb and dumber epa goons got the big con, much like the whole basis of EPA is a big con..it was ok by EPA until somebody found a way to get a big payday..who took short positions prior to the news??
when dealing with criminal bureaucracy..rule one is have a better lie. fuck the little shits at EPA.
"Sure we'll pay when you send the gold back", then FU
When the penalty does not fit the crime, the result is injustice. And Americans should wake up to the real reason this clamp down is being used. It is government tyranny over free enterprise capitalism.
How can the nations allow California to set the standards and control the rest of the world by forcing them to satisfy her unworkable, dumb environmental laws whose goal is to advance world socialism?
Already, Gov Jerry Brown has been busy at the Vatican warning of possible human extinction from global warming while environmentalists and civic leaders are stoking up fears in Oakland over possible dust from the coal trains that would blow into surrounding areas and cause health problems if a plan is adopted to ship coal from city docks in Oakland.
TPNN reports that “scientists for years have been colluding with government regulators to exact control over our economic system, attempting to replace capitalism with communism/socialism through climate change nonsense, preying on weak-minded Democrats, liberals, and progressives."
Does the American public even understand that the carbon emissions the climate change hoaxers are howling about is the same carbon dioxide that they breathe out, simply returning to the air the same CO2 that was there to begin with?
Or, as TPNN points out: "CO2 is a useful trace gas in the atmosphere, and the planet would actually benefit by having more, not less of it, because it is not a driver for Global Warming and would enrich our vegetation, yielding better crops to feed the expanding population?"
Or: “When using unaltered historical NOAA/NASA data, there has been no warming trend the last 130 years”?.
As for the socialist agenda to eradicate capitalism, Flora Drury of Daily Mail tells us that it has now been found that “Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Mazda and Mitsubishi are producing cars which emit far more pollution on the road than they do in a lab, according to new tests.
“The four car giants join Volkswagen on the growing list of companies,” says Drury, “whose diesel vehicles passed the EU’s official regulatory test in a laboratory setting, but fail to meet them in realistic driving situations.”
It is no secret that the climate change hoaxers want a reduction in the West’s standard of living through taxes and massive legislation.
Maurice Strong, founder of the UN Environment Program and one of the wealthiest men in the world with great personal wealth derived from the oil industry in Canada, put it this way:
“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?”
In his opening speech at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, Strong said it like this:
“It is clear that current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class…involving high meat intake, consumption of large amounts of frozen and ‘convenience’ foods, ownership of motor-vehicles, numerous electric household appliances, home and work-place air-conditioning…expansive suburban housing…are not sustainable.”
And that is true; under a socialist system whereby the state owns all the means of production and allocates the wealth according to need, Western civilization will cease to exist.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Opponents-of-Oakland-coal-shipping-target-6405576.php
: http://www.tpnn.com/2014/09/23/the-10-top-inconvenient-truths-about-the-climate-change-hoax/#ixzz3ocADJvCK
Cheaters never prosper.
Umm, okay. Shalom.
Anything coherent to add Mr. Duke?
Only a +1 for myself to prove you wrong.
You are pro-cheater.
Thanks for clarifying your lack of integrity and character.
Everything else you ever mash into your keyboard can be summarily dismissed as teh ramblings of an amoral reprobate. Thanks for your participation. :)
Good day, and have fun voting Dem or Rep. Your gubermit thanks you for submitting to the system.
Kill the law, problem goes away. There are other auto manufactures involved.
Had another unplanned incident at the pool yesterday. This time I played myself as a Global Climate change supporter on the fence. Blah, blah for fifteen minutes. His hook was caputured. Said, interesting concept.
He has not idea on the structural matters with the diarrhea Goverment. He didn't remember the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Vaguely recalls Solyndra, didn't know how photovoltaic solar technology worked. Didn't now about IMF, Worldbank, BIS, and Petrodollar recycling thru the Federal Reserve.
My last question asked to him, tell me the difference between a gasoline car and a electric fossil coal driven car? Both are Co2 and hydrocarbon driven to create energy.
His reply, well I don't know.
How did this all transpire? I was stepping into the pool and commented how cold the pool was getting. Brrrr. He interjected that it was Climate change. The conversation ran its course. We left on good terms, pretended I was so confused. LOL
BTW, it took great self control not to laugh, he's from Buffalo, NY. He was whinning about the lack of Solar Cells available in his snowbelt nick of the country.
True story.
Welcome to American law: handcuff Volkswagen while Goldman walks.
True story.
For your information, solar cells run on sunlight which is dependent on where they are.
Buffalo is a good location.
http://www.buffalo.edu/home/feature_story/solar-strand.html
Perhaps your self control and not laughing was a good thing because you were the ass!
The EPA "protects" the environment as effectively as Al Sharpton "protects" blacks.
In Massachusetts we have mandatory emissions testing. These vehicles haven't been banned but they can't pass the emissions test. It will be interesting to see what Mass.gov does because if they don't put the giant R sticker (reject) on these cars and ban them from the road, I will be filing a lawsuit if they dare to put a R sticker on my cars for not passing. I'm sure other puritanical states like California do similar things but I haven't heard about these cars being banned or exempted from testing.
VW makes awesome cars. They work and they last.
Fuck this emmission marketing bullshit. ALL OF THE AUTO MAKERS ARE DOING IT!!!
I want an older Jetta. No one sells those though. I would buy one. They are nice.
cost of maintaining a golf = cost of maintaining a fleet of trucks.
It is a diesel engine. They are dirty and I have run about a hundred various diesel engines in my life. You don't cheap oil in a diesel. I have changed plenty of oil out diesel engines and it is always the blackest of black. Hell, I drove two diesels yesterday. I have driven one of the VW Jettas and I liked it. Diesel fuel is really more of an oil. Without diesel, the world would not work. The breakfast you ate would not be there without diesel engines driving those 18 wheelers and diesel/electric trains.
People think that a diesel mechanic is a rare bird. Maybe so but you only need to know two major points. Change your fuel filter often and make sure you bleed the air out of the fuel system before you try to start it. There is always a bleeder screw somewhere near the intake manifold. The bonus is that you never have to change any spark plugs or wires and diesel engines run a very long time.
Fuck California emissions bullshit. VW should not have to pay a dime. Just cut your losses move business operations out of California. If Californians want it this way then they can walk.
You missed out a critical thing for VW diesel engine maintenance.
The timing belt.
It needs to be changed approx every 75K miles. If you don't change it and the timing belt breaks, your engine will more than likely be written off.
Changing the timing belt takes about six to eight hours labour. That will be approx $800 - $1900 including parts.
http://blauparts.com/vw_timing_belt_replacement/20tdi/faq/vw_passat_timi...
GM's Chevy Cruz Diesel will never fail an emissions test and you're an unpatriotic terrorist if you believe otherwise. Now move along bitchez, nothing to see here.
Let's fire up the $89,000 Duramax with Allison tranny and let it idle for a few hours.
http://dirtymaxdiesel.weebly.com/
So let me get this straight:
BP 'accidentally' (more like negligently) ruins the entire Golf Coast which still isn't completely fixed, but I guess no one cares anymore for the seals and pelicans, and the death toll is actually directly related to the 'accident'.
Enron lies about their earnings BIG TIME. Suicides directly linked, middle class incomes wiped off the boards.
And VW? VW, in an effort to get really awesome high mpg, high torque motors on the road has to cheat an EPA standard that is way too stringent. Also, how do the masses not realize that if your diesel VW has an MPG of 35 and your Chevy Silverado has an MPG of 16 (literally half) that your truck, by simply using more gas per mile, has HUGE built in environmental impacts? Is there really a difference? How about the fact that gasoline is refined diesel? What are the environmental implications/by products of turning diesel into gasoline? How much 'emission' is created in that process? How much per gallon? What are the environmental impacts of the catalytic converters? Of the 50% more metal used in the trucks construction? Shouldn't we just, based on every single part in a vehicle, calculate a total built in emission vs. operating emission? How about operating emission per mile instead of hr, which is useless metric?
Basically, this is just a ploy to get Americans to buy more Chevys, Fords, Chryslers, Pontiacs, Buicks.
BP? More correctly it was Oblumba.
Within 3 days of the spill, the 2 largest skimmer ships in the world were on site. HOWEVER the US didn't allow those ships to operate. Why? Because those ships can process about 10,000 times as much seawater and oil as ALL of the US skimmer ships COMBINED. The "problem" was the EPA required removal of 99.995% of all oil from the water, and those ships could only remove 99.9%.
The US tiny ships had to take their water back to shore for processing.
Oblama FINALLY allowed those foreign skimmers to operate AFTER 3 MONTHS of oil spewing into the gulf, but only when the equipment was fitted to US ships with US crews.
Oblama doesn't give a flying fuck about the environment, and all the people on the Gulf coast know this. But since they vote Republican, they don't count.
Volkswagen never made a profit in the US. So just leave the factory keys to the Americans for free. With the rest of the world there is a solution, in the max with a little help from the chinese.
You are an American idiot. VW does not meet the European standards for emissions either. The only place these things meet the standard is China.
I dont understand why VW dont disclose the cheating software of all the other carmakers.
Dont tell me they build engines which pass this tests without cheating.
No way.
<-- I've got a 2 cycle leaf blower that can out-pollute any VW TDI.
<-- VW is evil and anti-semitic plus their filthy TDI engines destroy da environment.
Fuck your click bait vote
Ladies and Gentlemens,
I give you the new and exciting zero emission,
Volts Wagen
Vier All Charged Up!
This VW scandal has fuck all to do with emissions. Only a retard would believe such a story. It is an old fashioned U.S Elite/CFR endorsed shake-down of a German powerhouse and by extension the German government and by extension the German elite, for breaking ranks regarding Russia and the Ukraine debacle. The French were told not to sell the Russians their Mistral warships and reluctantly toed the line, despite the loss of $1.8 billion. The Germans were pissed off at U.S actions, belligerence, demands and financial sacrifices Europeans had to make with Russia over the Ukraine and decided to have an entente with Russia. This was an unforgiveable act to the Anglo-Zio-American establishment, so they went after Germany in their tried and tested manor. They decided to bludgeon German not over the head, but financially(in their pocket). Going after VW group is designed to have only one simple effect.
This message has already sunk in. All that is left to be decided is how severe the public flogging of Germany will be.
the us wants to keep their gold.
I bought a gas engine Passat a few years ago, absolutely loved it and then sold it to my son which he now has at college. I would love to buy a Diesel Passat... anyone know what kind of deal you can get on one after all this scandal? My town doesn't require emmissions test so don't care about that.
No one with an IQ above 70 is buying the EPA's voodoo campaign against VW. Just keep your TDI in high efficiency mode and it will hold its value. Get it "fixed" and it will lose value.
Of course it won't be street legal in its "unfixed" condition and will eventually be confiscated or you will be refused plates for it but until then, you're golden.
On the other hand, if you pull the brain out of a wrecked one and go get your offical one "fixed" and then swap brains, you should be okay.
Hmmm. Vw goes bankrupt. German govt steps in and uses public money to bail out VW.....in the form of gold bullion. EPA wants its administrative fines? Great. Hand over the gold as the source of revenue to pay fines. Then watch shit hit the fan
next thing you#ll hear is that VW will have to compromise its best security features, cause the goverments cant accept a 100 mpg motor.
I love my VW diesel. I'll love it even more when they offer to trade it in for a new one for free to save customers. Don't pay any government extortion fines. Just file, go belly up, and start over. I'll be one of your first new customers.
Same to the euro. They make the idea of common currency sounds like a dream, look at it now. Poorer nations cannot jump off the gravy train.
Fiat games baby. The bankers run that industry from every side. From the credit side thru regulators and insurance even the fuel we put in the tank. This aint the first time VW got hammered on emmissions either. The air cooled stuff? Gone. The Rabbit ha 35 mpg and its dirty? But a quadrajet passes easy at like 16mpg? How does that work?
Na I took my ball and went home. Enjoy your new electric car folks. Never mind about it not working at scale.
get real different standards on Ford GM trucks and large trucks. Political oil dollar nonsense. publish Nox standards the Co2 is total nonsense....