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posted by
martyb
on Wednesday November 23 2016, @11:33PM
from the that's-one-way-to-reduce-emissions dept.
from the that's-one-way-to-reduce-emissions dept.
The head of Volkswagen's core brand is sketching out a broad restructuring emphasizing electric cars and digital technology such as autonomous vehicles and car-sharing.
Volkswagen division head Herbert Diess said Tuesday at a news conference at company headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany that the goal is "to fundamentally change Volkswagen" as it bounces back from a scandal over cars rigged to cheat on diesel emissions tests.
The plan foresees new investments in electric-car technology and in software that would enable new ways of using and sharing cars over the longer term.
Would all this upheaval in the auto industry be happening without Tesla?
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Volkswagen Aims to Go Electric, Raise Lagging Profits
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by gidds on Thursday November 24 2016, @01:59PM
The VW story didn't surprise me. But I expected a host of similar stories about other diesel manufacturers to follow before too long.
The silence must mean one of two things:
• VW were the only manufacturer gaming the tests. I find this hard to believe; the technology to do so is straightforward enough, and other manufacturers are certainly as motivated and probably no more scrupulous.
• No-one is talking about other manufacturers cheating. This also seems hard to believe; across the entire industry, many people must know about cheating, and if no-one else then VW themselves would have every incentive to blow whistles on other companies.
So what's going on?
[sig redacted]
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday November 25 2016, @11:38AM
Third option: Nobody involved really cares.
You see, VW cheated on emissions tests. The other manufacturers didn't care because they cheated them too, the people buying the cars didn't care because they wanted better fuel economy or more power (the %age of people who buy a car because of their emissions output is really really small, most of them don't have cars, and those that do go electric and/or Hybrid). The regulators don't really care (they just run the tests, and report the results with a pass/fail. Not in their remit to check for cheating), and neither do politicians or members of the EU ( you should see their carbon footprint, and the kinds of cars they drive, let alone private planes, boats, etc... ).
The only reason VW gets dragged over the coals is because of Politics. The EU slapped a US company (was it Apple?) with a massive fine, and the USA retaliated against VW (for a fine that just "coincidentally" was exactly the same amount as the EU fine to the US company). The USAs retaliation was an escalation as well, because (as you can see) most people, myself included, don't even remember the name of the original company which the EU fined and what for, but everyone still knows about VW.
The other manufactures are keeping a low profile now, unless they get picked on as the next casualty in what is essentially a mini trade-war between the EU and the USA.