At first it seemed that Volkswagen taking the Mickey out of the American Environmental Protection Agency for years now would only impact its reputation in the USA – after all, VW stocks tumbled a drastic 20% on Monday (and are now down by 36%) after news that the automaker could face up to $18bn in fines for cheating emissions tests, and now the US Department of Justice has opened a criminal inquiry into the matter.

But noughtess.

The effect is, in fact, rippling world wide.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for “complete transparency” from the company that has long been a symbol of the country’s engineering excellence. Other automakers have also seen their shares fall since Tuesday after whispers suggested that the likes of BMW, Peugeot, Renault and Fiat Chrysler will see regulators across the world step up to scrutinise vehicle tests – which environmentalists have long criticised for exaggerating fuel-saving and emissions results.

11 million VW cars are set to be recalled globally and South African production lines, which export globally to countries such as Japan, the UK, Australia and Europe, are predicted to see a massive decline in jobs, although this is unable to be confirmed.

The UK and France have called for a European investigation into the company, which allegedly rigged emission standards on its diesel engines to deliberately mislead importing countries’ vehicle pollution regulators.

Now, South Africa’s National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications is wondering whether to begin its own investigation into the matter.

This could see a drop in demand for VWs manufactured in South Africa. While job losses in South Africa are largely governed by domestic issues, such as labour and trade policies and tariffs, the potential is there.

If you’re not too sure what’s up, here’s a wonderful explanation:

The point of the software was to detect when an emission test was being done. As soon as this happens the computer, through the software, recognises an emission test is occurring and changes the emissions to an acceptable standard.

BOOM. This is a whole new level of software manipulation and experts are sceptical that VW is the only automaker to be using the device. I knew this whole computerised engine vibe was a bad idea in the first place. Gosh.

[source: bdlive & timeslive]