TR Forums

ludi wrote:

Here's a fun one: if a US-based VW owner accepts the de-facto $1000 gift from VW, do they have to report it to the IRS as miscellaneous income?

bhtooefr wrote:

It's worth noting that it's two separate $500 gifts (below the $600 1099 threshold), so they may be doing some shenanigans to avoid having to report them?

I mean, Volkswagen would never do shenanigans to avoid US government regulations.

bhtooefr wrote:

If it's two separate gifts from two separate companies, though, it'd be on really shaky tax ground, but...

Reuters wrote:

A high-ranking employee warned senior Volkswagen managers in May 2014 that U.S. regulators might examine car engine software as part of an investigation into pollution levels, two sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The warning came in the form of a letter, which was sent more than a year before the German carmaker's public admission that its cars had been equipped with software to manipulate emission test results, the sources said...

German newspaper Bild am Sonntag said that an employee known internally as "Winterkorn's fireman" had notified superiors about the probe. "It can be assumed that the authorities will investigate VW systems to establish whether Volkswagen has implemented test-recognition software," the newspaper said, citing the letter uncovered as part of an investigation by Jones Day, a law firm conducting the company's internal investigation.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

http://news.yahoo.com/volkswagen-managers-were-notified-diesel-probe-may-2014-164018821--finance.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-volks ... SKCN0VN0SZ

Reuters wrote:

A high-ranking employee warned senior Volkswagen managers in May 2014 that U.S. regulators might examine car engine software as part of an investigation into pollution levels, two sources familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The warning came in the form of a letter, which was sent more than a year before the German carmaker's public admission that its cars had been equipped with software to manipulate emission test results, the sources said...

German newspaper Bild am Sonntag said that an employee known internally as "Winterkorn's fireman" had notified superiors about the probe. "It can be assumed that the authorities will investigate VW systems to establish whether Volkswagen has implemented test-recognition software," the newspaper said, citing the letter uncovered as part of an investigation by Jones Day, a law firm conducting the company's internal investigation.

morphine wrote:

It's never a crime until you get caught, right?

bhtooefr wrote:

Speaking of German automakers, diesels, and getting caught...

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/02/18/merc ... s-lawsuit/

localhostrulez wrote:

bhtooefr wrote:

Speaking of German automakers, diesels, and getting caught...

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/02/18/merc ... s-lawsuit/

Ooh, that's interesting. I toured the Daimler truck assembly facility in Portland, and they pointed out their urea tanks - and mocked VW's lack of them. And then this?

just brew it! wrote:

localhostrulez wrote:

bhtooefr wrote:

Speaking of German automakers, diesels, and getting caught...

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/02/18/merc ... s-lawsuit/

Ooh, that's interesting. I toured the Daimler truck assembly facility in Portland, and they pointed out their urea tanks - and mocked VW's lack of them. And then this?

It's also interesting that the article doesn't come right out and say that the temperature-based shutoff violates the letter of the EPA regulations (though it certainly violates the spirit of them). This is materially different from the VW case, since (AFAICT) Mercedes isn't specifically detecting that the vehicle is undergoing emissions testing.

bhtooefr wrote:

The DEF tanks are heated electrically, though, specifically to keep them from freezing. And, there's typically AECDs granted to give time for the tank to heat up when it's below the AdBlue freezing point, as I understand.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that two anonymous sources briefed on the matter agreed that Volkswagen Group would buy back nearly 500,000 2.0L engine diesel vehicles equipped with illegal defeat devices as part of an agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

tanker27 wrote:

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/04/volkswagen-to-buy-back-500000-defeat-device-enabled-cars-reuters-sources-say/

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that two anonymous sources briefed on the matter agreed that Volkswagen Group would buy back nearly 500,000 2.0L engine diesel vehicles equipped with illegal defeat devices as part of an agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ludi wrote:

So, back-of-the-envelope math: Somewhere between $8 and $15B, less any residual they can get after software patching the ECU and then dumping the vehicles cheaply into the Latin American and/or Chinese markets?

Captain Ned wrote:

ludi wrote:

So, back-of-the-envelope math: Somewhere between $8 and $15B, less any residual they can get after software patching the ECU and then dumping the vehicles cheaply into the Latin American and/or Chinese markets?

Buyback amount is market value as of the day before the scandal became public.

ludi wrote:

Yeah, I was figuring somewhere between $15k and $30k per vehicle depending on make and model. TDIs tended to hold their value pretty well, at least before the scandal broke.

localhostrulez wrote:

...is there actually any evidence of others cheating, or are we just making sure?

localhostrulez wrote:

Ooh, finally, they've moved on from the "rogue engineers" thing: http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/04/rep ... e-in-2006/

just brew it! wrote:

localhostrulez wrote:

Ooh, finally, they've moved on from the "rogue engineers" thing: http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/04/rep ... e-in-2006/

The "rogue engineer" explanation was pretty difficult to take seriously from day one.