Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/26/glk-220-cdi-4matic.html
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but it has formally advised investors to expect a one-time writedown of hundreds of millions of euros over the recall.
And then, nothing changed, that number is a mere pittance to Mercedes.
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VW was only the first to get smacked for this. Their response, to swing massively toward electric vehicles, was surely informed by the knowledge that all the other major manufacturers of diesel cars were also cheating on emissions, and there was no way to compete with them without cheating.
It won’t make a difference to Mercedes now to lose a couple hundred million. In the long run, however, it may hurt them more not to have been caught at it sooner.
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It’s too bad. Assuming that the fuel efficiency and emissions goals were arrived at fairly, Diesels were a great alternative fuel option. I own one of the impacted VW Diesels, and I love it.
But this is surely the death knell for diesel cars. Everyone is cheating because there’s just no more runway to improve mileage while hitting emissions goals. (At least without making a big compromise on the cost of the exhaust systems)
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It is too bad. We actually owned two of the recalled cars, although one was totaled before the recall. We loved them both. My wife got a trade-in for basically the same car, but plug-in hybrid instead of diesel, with quite a lot of the original price paid by VW. So she’s happy enough.
I wish there were more cars that fit my needs. VW makes good cars for tall guys. I expect soon they’ll make good cars for tall guys that are totally electric. Unfortunately, I’ll have to kiss my manual transmission goodbye, but my understanding is I won’t miss it in an electric car.
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You will miss it on summer days with the windows down and music galloping along at 200bpm.
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As long as it’s other people’s money, it’s not going to matter. Lawsuits on individuals (or orange-suits on individuals) would put a stop to this nicely.
Actual people actually die from this shit; send in your finest actuaries and let’s figure out how many years lost and what these guys have coming to them.
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This is a good metaphor for our planetary predicament.
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But that’s the crux; they weren’t. All those drivers sitting behind the wheel of these vehicles feeling great satisfaction at their mileage and emissions were duped. I think it’s pretty clear there’s no such thing as an ethical diesel at this point.
Well. I still have my car, and it passes emissions tests fairly now, and still has good (just less good) gas mileage. So that puts the lie to that point. It is doable, it just costs more money and it’s less competitive with hybrids now.
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Did you have anything done to it to get it to pass emissions tests?
I had to wait about 18 months for VW to develop a new exhaust, and then they installed it and paid me ~$7k.
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