In a marvelously weasel-worded statement, Volkswagen CEO Winterkorn has resigned saying he was shocked just shocked at the “misconduct.” Further he’s not aware of any personal wrongdoing. How very curious. He doesn’t even know if he knew. But leaves the possibility he may have known. In case, y’know, some pesky prosecutor proves it.
Someone should tell Winterkorn that deliberate frauds over multiple years are not “irregularities” but serious criminality.
“I am shocked by the events of the past few days. Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group. As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the Supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group. I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part.”
And yes, the prosecution is very unequal indeed, says Zero Hedge. Another curiosity.
Meanwhile, back in the best democracy money can buy, where failure is rewarded with bailouts and where criminal death cover-ups cost less than $1 billion to settle, Mary Barra is still running GM.
Back to Volkswagen and their diesel problem. From the comments at Zero Hedge.
Just try to sell [your Passat diesel]…. or drive it in California. The good news is that you can join class action lawsuits and sue for your entire purchase price, due to fraud.
Volkswagen diesels will no longer be able pass mandatory US state smog inspections which means the cars can’t be driven legally. It’s not even clear if the diesels can be retrofitted with anti-smog devices. And if they can, then performance and mileage will drop substantially.
This wasn’t some rogue code monkey. A lot of Krauts were involved in this irregularity conspiracy. When Americans get the fix at their dealers and their cars then run like shit, this is going to be the mother of all class actions.