General Motors’ fine in 1995 for 470,000 cars using defeat devices against EPA testing: US$11 million. Volkswagen’s fine in 2016 for 580,000 cars using defeat devices against EPA testing: potentially US$40,000 million (or $40 billion, as the Americans say). The local companies get off far easier in the US. In fact, GM can even get […]
Tag: Volkswagen
Volkswagen’s scandal won’t spread to other German car groups
If you want a humorous take on what happened at Volkswagen this week, the above video sums it all up. During my 2010 mayoral campaign, I noted that if New Zealand did not diversify its economy to have more of a focus on technology, there could be a problem. Relying on primary products (I didn’t […]
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The top-selling cars in France, 2013
Interesting what pops up on Weibo: 2013’s top-selling cars in France. 1. Renault Clio IV 2. Peugeot 208 3. Citroën C3 4. Renault Scénic III 5. Renault Mégane III 6. Dacia Sandero 7. Renault Captur 8. Volkswagen Polo V 9. Renault Twingo II 10. Peugeot 3008 The French are a patriotic bunch. In […]
Another milestone: Autocade reaches 2,000 models
The last few times Autocade reached a milestone, I blogged about it, and since this one is a bit of a Duesy, it deserves to be recorded. The car cyclopædia has reached 2,000 models, with the Opel Kadett D getting us there. It also passed 2½ million page views during December—I noticed it […]
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Volkswagen is a case for critical thinking, not blind following
Here’s an article from Autoblog that combines several of the themes I enjoy writing about: cars, leadership, management and education. I’ve already hinted at this on my Facebook fan page, where I seem to post some of the pithy things these days. I sometimes try to avoid blogging about the same thing—a lot of […]
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Endgame: Saab files for bankruptcy
If you’re a car nut, then you won’t be mourning, too much, the passing of former Czech president Vaclev Hável. Or, for that matter, Kim Jong Il. It’s Saab that has finally died as it files for bankruptcy after GM, which still licenses key technologies to the Swedish firm, vetoed its sale to Zhejiang Youngman […]