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An Anonymous Coward offers the following:
Volkswagen has admitted that more models gamed the emissions test, nearly doubling the number of cars affected. This now includes some Audi and Porsche models and other VW brands. From http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-volkswagen-problems-expand-20151105-story.html
The latest developments followed Volkswagen's admission Tuesday that it had understated the carbon dioxide emissions for 800,000 cars, widening the scope of the scandal.
Bob Lutz comments on a very toxic management culture at VW and offers his explanation for where things went sideways, http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a27197/bob-lutz-vw-diesel-fiasco/, suggesting that the management ruled by fear and threats.
And, a quote from a conversation with the dictator (former VW boss Ferdinand Piëch) about tight (high quality) body panel fits on a VW, Lutz remembers:
...
"Yeah. I wish we could get close to that at Chrysler.""I'll give you the recipe. I called all the body engineers, stamping people, manufacturing, and executives into my conference room. And I said, 'I am tired of all these lousy body fits. You have six weeks to achieve world-class body fits. I have all your names. If we do not have good body fits in six weeks, I will replace all of you. Thank you for your time today.' "
This must really be serious now, none of the articles I saw used "xyz-gate" -- instead calling it a scandal or similar.
(Score: 2) by fritsd on Friday November 06 2015, @10:05AM
In Sweden the CO2-"utsläpp" is also a large factor in the car tax:
https://www.skatteverket.se/privat/skatter/biltrafik/fordonsskatt.4.18e1b10334ebe8bc80003864.html#personbilar [skatteverket.se]
So if your car produces less than the threshold of 111 gram CO2 / km then you don't have to pay.
It's a bit confusing, because the yearly car test tests the *CO* not the *CO2* production.
CO2 is estimated as a function of the car's engine type and weight. Makes sense: the weight determines how much fuel you have to burn to get the thing moving. Assuming a lambda value of 1 (complete burning of fuel -> CO2 + water). And a deviation of the complete burning is tested by the yearly "bilprovning" test.
Weight also is the largest factor in wear-and-tear on the public roads, I think, so that one factor is the "cleanest" estimator variable to determine the tax.