Volkswagen names new CEO: A look back at its very bad week
Volkswagen announced Porsche chief Matthias Mueller as its new CEO Friday, capping off a week of revelations, recriminations, stock tumbles, leadership changes, and, inevitably, lawsuits.
New Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller addresses a news conference at Volkswagen's headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany September 25, 2015.
Fabian Bimmer/AP/File
To say that this has been a bad week for Volkswagen would be like saying that John Boehner's听听this morning was a little surprising, or that Kim Kardashian likes a bit of attention now and then.
What began last Friday as a handful of accusations from the Environmental Protection Agency has turned into an avalanche of revelations, recriminations, stock tumbles, leadership changes, and, inevitably, lawsuits.
Because this story is still evolving -- and may continue to do so for months -- it's impossible to sum up the situation in a few tidy paragraphs. There are so many threads unraveling at VW and its subsidiaries, we think the best way of explaining the crisis is to share a brief timeline of the high (or low) points. Just click through the boldface links for a deeper dive:听
2014:听听Daniel Carder and a team of researchers at West Virginia University discover that Volkswagen has been cheating on emissions tests by using听. Basically, the software determines whether a听听is being tested for emissions. If it is, the vehicle's full emissions controls activate. If it's not, they shut off. Pollution from Volkswagen diesels is up to听听in vehicles with the emissions controls turned off.
August 21, 2015:听After denying the accusations for a year,听, admitting that it has been cheating on diesel emissions tests since 2009.
September 18, 2015:听The schnitzel hits the fan as听.听Volkswagen issues a brief听on the matter: "Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., Volkswagen AG and Audi AG received today notice from the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Justice and the California Air Resources Board of an investigation related to certain emissions compliance matters.听VW is cooperating with the investigation; we are unable to comment further at this time."
September 21, 2015:听听The automaker sets aside $7.3 billion to repair software in 11 million diesel听听worldwide, roughly 500,000 of which are registered in the U.S. There's much speculation that Volkswagen's troubles听.听
September 23, 2015:听. (Don't worry: he's got a听.) There's a great deal of debate about听, including U.S. chief Michael Horn.
September 24, 2015: Another German automaker,听. BMW issues a statement denying it, and experts distinguish it as a workaround rather than cheating. Meanwhile, here in America, dealers听听for basically ruining their lives.
September 25, 2015: The Volkswagen board prepares to announce. On this side of the Atlantic, despite outcry from听,听. Also, to no one's surprise, the EPA announces plans to听. And听.
Going forward, even though the听听should be simple,听.听The scandal at VW has highlighted the difficulty of making diesels meet increasingly cleaner emissions goals. After all, if diesels were really as clean as VW claimed, they wouldn't have had to cheat, right?
This could cause many drivers and many countries to turn their backs on diesels, focusing instead on today's cleaner gasoline and hybrid engines, as well as听. That would leave diesel-loving automakers -- and the refineries that deal in diesel -- in the lurch.