Volkswagon to pay $14b in largest automotive civil claim - What a scam!!

[ChristianAnarchist]

It's a scam because there was nothing really wrong with these cars. Yes, they put out a very small amount more pollution than what they are "supposed" to, but even that amount was next to nothing. When you have them "fixed" they will consume MORE fuel which means MORE pollution (HELLO!!!). These cars are available all over the world where they are not so crazy about emissions. Getting more MPG is the answer to emissions. Burning less fuel is the answer to emissions. Now Volkswagon even has to pay $2.7b into an EPA fund for "environmental impact". What a foulking SCAM! I may find one of these cars and buy it yet before it can be damaged by the "fix"...

Details below...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/bu...ndal.html?_r=0

[phill4paul]

It's a scam because there was nothing really wrong with these cars. Yes, they put out a very small amount more pollution than what they are "supposed" to, but even that amount was next to nothing. When you have them "fixed" they will consume MORE fuel which means MORE pollution (HELLO!!!). These cars are available all over the world where they are not so crazy about emissions. Getting more MPG is the answer to emissions. Burning less fuel is the answer to emissions. Now Volkswagon even has to pay $2.7b into an EPA fund for "environmental impact". What a foulking SCAM! I may find one of these cars and buy it yet...

Details below...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/28/bu...ndal.html?_r=0

AF may be willing to sell his. And, yeah, it's a bunch of bull$#@!.

[Anti Federalist]

AF may be willing to sell his. And, yeah, it's a bunch of bull$#@!.

I honestly don't think CA will be able to beat what Uncle Sucker is going to force VW to pay me.

Of course, the whole thing is ridiculous...

Five tenths of a percent...that is what the difference is: 92.2 percent vs. 92.7 percent reduction in NoX.

This is not about anything more than an enraged Uncle Sucker punitively hammering a corporation that had the stones to, for short time anyway, tell Uncle to get $#@!ed.

[Anti Federalist]

LOL - Writers need a new thesaurus...there are other words to use than "spewed".

[ChristianAnarchist]

Yeah, unfortunately now the price will be so high because of the "buyback" that no one will be able to afford a non-mutilated one...

[limequat]

I wonder what VW is going to do with all these used diesels? Sell them in other countries?

[CaptUSA]

I posted it before, but I once found a chart showing Volkswagen's political donations compared to other major auto companies.

In case you couldn't guess, VW was WAY off the mark. In cronyist America, if you don't want suits and settlements, you have to pay the right people up front. VW did not and now they are learning a valuable lesson in the American system.


ETA: not the one I was looking for, but it's a good example...



.4% of political contributions just isn't going to cut it, mein freunde.

[ChristianAnarchist]

Hey there are still plenty of these cars for sale on eBay...

[limequat]

I wonder what VW is going to do with all these used diesels? Sell them in other countries?

They are scheduled to be scrapped. Feds want a 3" hole in the block and the unibody cut in half.

Give me a mig welder and a deal with Honda for engines and I could make a killing.

[phill4paul]

They are scheduled to be scrapped. Feds want a 3" hole in the block and the unibody cut in half.

Give me a mig welder and a deal with Honda for engines and I could make a killing.

SMDH. Insanity.

[ChristianAnarchist]

They are scheduled to be scrapped. Feds want a 3" hole in the block and the unibody cut in half.

Give me a mig welder and a deal with Honda for engines and I could make a killing.

Well now, these could be very rare in 20 years. Might really make it worth getting one now.

[phill4paul]

Well now, these could be very rare in 20 years. Might really make it worth getting one now.

I'd like to see what some one could figure as a home generator. Output, etc. Do home generators have the same requirements as cars? These are four cylinders, correct?

[presence]

$14b

7 tractor trailer 18 wheelers stacked high to max gross road legal weight with $100 bills

[Anti Federalist]

The Bank Run

by eric • June 29, 2016

http://ericpetersautos.com/2016/06/29/the-bank-run/

If you own a VW diesel guilty of “cheating” Uncle, you’d better scuttle on down to your local VW store. Not to “fix” it (they’re not broken) but to get your money before there’s none left.

On Tuesday, Uncle announced the most draconian punishment ever meted out to a car company over the TDI “cheating” scandal: $15 billion in forced buyback/loan forgiveness offers and funding for “environmental programs” and the promotion of electric/hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

On top of this, VW has agreed – been forced – to pay out another $600 million in separate settlements with 44 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The cost of pending civil litigation – not covered by the above – hasn’t yet been calculated. But it could be the biggest and most expensive class-action payday ever. There are at least half a million potential litigants.

It could be curtains for Volkswagen.

No joke.

$15 billion is a staggering sum. An impossible sum.

It dwarfs the cost borne by Ford back in the late 1970s over the Exploding Pinto fiasco – a mere $127 million (later reduced to $6 million, or about $24 million in today’s dollars). In the early 2000s, Ford had to pay out about $2.4 billion to settle claims arising from the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire rollover debacle.

Chump change.

And Ford is a major automaker, one of the Big Three. Its cars account for about 15 percent of all cars sold in the U.S.

VW has – had – a market share around 3 percent.

The math is very, very bad.

Ford would have trouble dealing with a $15 billion dollar hit (probably more like $20 billion once the civil litigation is figured in).

And VW is not Ford.

Where will all the geld come from?

Maybe VW has a geldscheisser. You know – like the private banking cartel that controls the money supply.

The good news is that owners of the “affected” vehicles won’t be forced to turn in their cars (to be destroyed) but VW will be forced to buy them back if they do.

Well, so long as VW has the funds available to do so.

Which could be not for long.

Each owner will get (if he hurries) the pre-scandal “clean” Blue Book value of his car, plus a cash award in addition ranging from $5,100 to $10,000. Or, the owner can elect to keep his car and wait for VW to “fix” it (the details of this have yet to be determined). These people will still get the $5-$10k payday. People who still owe on a loan may have the balance due forgiven and people who are leasing an “affected” model will have the opportunity to turn the car in early without penalty.

About half a million cars are “affected,” dating back to the 2009 model year. Under the terms of the agreement with Uncle, VW must either buy back or “fix” 85 percent of these cars by June 30, 2019. If it fails to do so, Uncle will hit the company with another $85 million in fines for each percentage point below 85 percent.

That alone is four times what Ford had to pay out to make amends for the Exploding Pintos – which actually hurt (actually killed) actual people.

Who has been hurt by VW’s “cheating”?

The fact is no one’s suffered so much as a bad hair day.

Uncle is aggrieved because VW dodged his increasingly unreasonable exhaust emissions fatwas.

But what’s the Big Whoop, really?

The “affected” cars emitted fractions of a percent more NOx (oxides of nitrogen) than Uncle decreed permissible. That’s it. The harm allegedly resulting from this is purely hypothetical. It is claimed a few dozen people – hypothetical people – might experience asthma-related symptoms. But no actual victim has yet been trotted out. And the “affected” vehicles would have easily passed muster with Uncle’s edicts of the early 2000s.

Were those cars “dirty”?

Who was harmed by them?

It’s interesting to observe that Uncle is much less aggrieved about the lethal airbags it has mandated be placed in front of all our faces every time we get behind the wheel.

These actually kill actual people.

Where are the double-digit billion fines and massive buyback offers?

Uncle won’t even allow people who own cars equipped with known-to-be-lethal air bags made by Takata to have the got-damned things disabled pending a fix. See here.

It shows what Uncle really cares about.

Which isn’t our “safety” – much less our lives.

It is obedience to Uncle.

VW sin was disobedience – and the punishment for that is severe.

If the automaker had merely sold defective cars, it would be no big deal. Or much less of one. When people get killed, the payouts and other consequences are trivial. Big numbers, by the standards of you and me, perhaps. But nothing a major corporation can’t handle.

But $15 billion? That’s a whole lot of money – even for a major corporation.

At the very least, it will cripple VW’s ability to update its cars for the foreseeable future. Expect stagnation for the next several years – which will be devastating to its competitiveness. Market share – already dwindling – is likely to continue to dwindle. Even though there is nothing functionally wrong with any of the “affected” cars, the taint of scandal has already caused their value to depreciate by double digits. See here. This will continue.

How does VW survive?

It will take years of profitability to recover the $15 billion; years (VW has openly admitted this) of VW not making any profit at all.

The Explorer/Firestone Tire debacle nearly killed Ford – and it was a much smaller debacle (for a much larger automaker).

Better get in line soon.

And don’t wait to cash that check, either.

[limequat]

I'd like to see what some one could figure as a home generator. Output, etc. Do home generators have the same requirements as cars? These are four cylinders, correct?

They are 4 cylinders, and they could theoretically double as generator motors. The main difference is generators typically run at a constant load and speed, as opposed to automotive engines that vary depending on driver demand. Diesels are well-suited to this work.

[limequat]

If I was VW I would tell the Feds to pound sand. The worst they can do is refuse to certify new cars in the US, which is a very small market for VW. While Eric notes that VW has about 3% market share in the US, it's the #2 manufacturer world wide. It could take them decades to recoup the $15B write off.

Dear VW, keep your $15B and shut down VW USA. Funnel your product in through a Chinese joint venture. $#@! the feds.

[angelatc]

Dear VW, keep your $15B and shut down VW USA. Funnel your product in through a Chinese joint venture. $#@! the feds.

I was hoping thats what they would do.

[parocks]

If I was VW I would tell the Feds to pound sand. The worst they can do is refuse to certify new cars in the US, which is a very small market for VW. While Eric notes that VW has about 3% market share in the US, it's the #2 manufacturer world wide. It could take them decades to recoup the $15B write off.

Dear VW, keep your $15B and shut down VW USA. Funnel your product in through a Chinese joint venture. $#@! the feds.

That's what I was thinking. Just leave. Maybe get the German goverment on your side. What can the Germans do to the US car companies in response?