VOLKSWAGEN'S EXISTENCE THREATENING CRISES

Volkswagen's Knock-on / Snowball effect

During September of 2015 Volkswagen AG admitted that they created sophisticated software that could  determined when the cars in which it was installed were tested by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) thus able to turn on the pollution controls but once all wheels were in rotation and the steering wheel was turned, the cheat software turned off. The cars implicated in Volkswagen's emissions scandal include the VW Jetta TDI, the VW Beetle, VW Golf  Model 2009-2015 TDI's, the Audi A3 and the Passat 2014- 015 model .  

Apparently Volkswagen cheated at emissions tests for seven years before being caught by the International Council on Clean Transportation. With the result that all sales of affected VW cars were stopped. In a the inquests that followed Volkswagen was found guilty and liable to compensate all the car owners who were cheated.

The owners of the 482,000 Volkswagen 2-liter diesel vehicles implicated in the company's emissions scandal  could each get as much as $7,000 because the automaker is willing to shell out over $10 billion in a civil settlement to U.S. car owners, in order to make things right. The automaker is expected to award each of these  car owners between $1,000 and $7,000 and will attempt to repair as many of the automobiles as it can, at no cost to the consumers. 

European are also shouting compensation and Europe's Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska  says it would be biased and very unfair of  Volkswagen to treat European customers  differently  because of different legal system, and that Volkswagen (VOW) should monetarily   compensate European customers same compensation as US drivers. And she added "Treating consumers in Europe differently than U.S. consumers is no way to win back trust,"  However  VW officials in Europe said that they will repair vehicles and remove illegal software, but have no intention to pay consumers compensation, arguing they suffered no loss.

As Volkswagen prepares to spend $10.2 billion to buy back vehicles in the U.S. a South Korean Volkswagen executive has been arrested after a warrant was issued by the Seoul District Court for charges related to Volkswagen's emissions cheating. Claiming the executive should have submitted test results for new cars but tried to fool the system by submitting test results for previous models. In what could mean even more trouble for  Volkswagen, the VW executive told prosecutors he altered the software for the electronic control units based on direct orders from Volkswagen management. Volkswagen Korea is facing class-action lawsuits from Korean owners who are demanding compensation similar to what has been offered to owners in the U.S. 

From this it is clear that the Snowball effect will soon go global and evey country will jump on the band wagon in order to get a piece of Volkswagen. The million dollar question is, " Will Volkswagen survive a 80 billion USD "existence -threatening  crises.