emissions
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Audi is trying to beat Tesla at its own game
Audi's ramping up its electric car plans and hopes to have three models by 2020. It'll also form a new subsidiary to work on autonomous cars.
VW agrees to $14.7 billion settlement over US diesel claims
After news of a settlement broke yesterday, Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal settlement will indeed hit $15 billion in the US. The official paperwork was filed with the Justice Department today, the automaker will shell out $14.7 billion in two separate settlements -- one with the United States and the state of California and another with the Federal Trade Commission. Figures have continued to rise since the initial reports of $5,000 per vehicle in April rose to $10,000 each. That money, which totals just over $10 billion, will be used to buy back affected vehicles at their pre-cheating scandal price. The actual payouts will range from $5,100 to $10,000 plus the value of the car before news of the emissions test first broke.
Expect a settlement in the Volkswagen emissions fiasco tomorrow
A federal judge has given Volkswagen until Tuesday, June 28th, to present a plan aimed at making amends in the diesel emissions scandal that's been dogging the company for nearly a year. Reuters and Bloomberg report that the settlement will cost VW $15 billion. In September, regulators discovered VW was using emissions-concealing software in roughly 500,000 of its diesel vehicles sold since 2008.
AP: VW will shell out $10.2 billion to settle emissions claims
Volkswagen is set to pay $10.2 billion to settle claims in the emissions-dodging scandal, the AP reports. Last year, Volkswagen was caught using software that disguised the true emissions output of 600,000 of its diesel vehicles sold since 2008, and the scandal may affect as many as 11 million automobiles worldwide. So far, the boondoggle has cost Volkswagen an estimated $18.2 billion and it led to the resignation of CEO Martin Winterkorn, among other executives. Reports surfaced in April that Volkswagen would buy back roughly 500,000 affected vehicles, plus offer extra cash to their owners from an apology fund totaling $1 billion.
Volkswagen plans to launch 30 electric cars in 10 years
With an $18.2 billion emissions scandal weighing heavy on its bank balance, Volkswagen is hoping electric cars will offer a brighter future. At a recent press conference, company CEO Matthias Müller unveiled "Together - Strategy 2025," a new initiative designed to put 30 new electric vehicles on the road within 10 years. The idea, Müller says, is "to learn from mistakes made, rectify shortcomings and establish a corporate culture that is open, value-driven and rooted in integrity."
The cost of VW's emissions scandal hits $18.2 billion
A day after a reported deal between Volkswagen and regulators over its emissions scandal, the company offered an update on the cost of the ordeal. This week, reports surfaced that customers would have the option of compensation and repair or allowing VW to buy back any vehicles with the faulty emissions equipment. However, an official announcement on the terms hasn't been made just yet. The diesel emissions scandal in which car systems were rigged to cheat tests affected around 600,000 vehicles.
Don't bank on Volkswagen paying you $5,000 just yet
Well, this is awkward. Yesterday, German newspaper Die Welt claimed that every American with one of Volkswagen's dodgy diesels would receive $5,000 in compensation. Today, Reuters is offering up a contradictory report saying that the terms of the proposed settlement are substantially different. According to sources, VW's as-yet-confidential deal with regulators means it'll buy back 500,000 of the vehicles that cheated emissions tests. In addition, $1 billion is being set aside as an apology fund for affected owners who will need to buy a new ride. Simple division means that you'd be getting your money back on the car, plus an extra two grand as a mea culpa.
VW will reportedly pay you $5,000 to settle its emissions scandal
If you were burned by Volkswagen's emissions cheating and don't think that $1,000 in credits and gift cards will cut it, we have good news for you... maybe. Die Welt sources understand that VW has reached a settlement deal with US officials that will have it pay affected diesel car owners $5,000 each to make up for misleading the public on the eco-friendliness of its vehicles. That's on top of what VW will have to pay to fix the cars in question. Provided the automaker gets the deal approved on April 21st (the deadline a court gave to agree on a fix), it'll avoid a trial that could easily have proven more costly.
Nissan outs Mitsubishi for cheating fuel economy tests
Mitsubishi Motors has admitted to manipulating data in Japanese fuel efficiency tests in order to overstate the fuel efficiency of 625,000 cars. Unlike the Volkswagen scandal, the cheating wasn't spotted by officials, but rather Nissan, its partner in a minicar venture. Mitsubishi and Nissan have collaborated on kei minicars -- tiny vehicles like the Nissan Dayz and Mitsubishi eK, which are very popular in Japan -- since 2013, with the former doing the manufacturing.
VW staff used code words to hide emissions cheating
Volkswagen's problems cooperating with emissions investigators aren't just a matter of navigating privacy laws... if you believe insiders, it's because the culprits did a good job of keeping things hush-hush. Bloomberg tipsters claim that VW staff used "dozens" of code words to hide emissions cheating activities, making it difficult for internal investigators to find evidence. They'd refer to the technology as "acoustic software," for example. Combine that with old, inadequate computers and it has supposedly been difficult to pin the illegal behavior on specific people.
Apple, Google and Microsoft back EPA's emissions strategy
The White House and Environmental Protection Agency may have their plans for carbon dioxide emissions reduction hanging by a thread in court, but they're getting some big allies in their corner. Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft have submitted a joint legal brief supporting the EPA's Clean Power Plan following a challenge by 29 states. They argue that the emissions regulation is not only realistic, but makes good business sense. Prices for solar and wind power are coming down, and their energy is a hedge against both volatile fuel prices and outages -- you can store unused power to ride out a storm, for instance.
FTC sues Volkswagen over false 'Clean Diesel' car ads
Volkswagen's US legal woes aren't stopping with the lawsuit from the Justice Department. The Federal Trade Commission has filed its own lawsuit against the car maker, accusing it of deceiving customers by running a "Clean Diesel" ad campaign between 2008 and 2015 while it was cheating on emissions tests. Simply put, it was touting its diesel cars as eco-friendly when they were anything but -- the FTC notes that they cranked out up to 4,000 percent more nitrogen oxides than the legal limit.
Commercial aircraft get their first global emissions standard
Ground-based vehicles have had emissions standards for a while (just ask Volkswagen), but commercial aircraft like passenger jets? Not so much. However, the world just took one big step toward cleaning up the skies: a total of 23 countries have agreed to set the first international carbon dioxide emissions standard for commercial aircraft. If the measures are adopted as recommended, new airplane models will have to meet the tougher guidelines in 2020. New aircraft from existing model lines will follow suit in 2023, and there will be a complete cutoff for non-standard aircraft in 2028.
Renault recalls 15,000 vehicles following emissions raids
Groupe Renault is recalling 15,000 of its vehicles in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal. French authorities publicly shone a light on the carmaker last week when fraud investigators swarmed multiple sites. Despite passing lab tests, it's said that the vehicles did not meet emissions standards in some real-world conditions.
Is Renault facing its own emissions scandal? (updated)
An AFP report, syndicated by The Telegraph, claims that Renault could be facing a Volkswagen-style emissions scandal of its very own. Representatives from the CGT Renault union are claiming that the French car maker's offices were raided by the nation's anti-fraud office last week. The suggestion is that authorities from the agency were interested in the engine control units that are fitted to certain cars. In addition, the personal computers of several directors were seized. Naturally, this news has had a disastrous effect on Renault's share price, with Bloomberg reporting that the potential scandal has caused a fall of 20 percent.
Human climate influence means we're skipping an ice age
According to a new study published in Nature, human-generated climate change -- specifically the massive additions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere -- is causing the Earth to effectively delay the start of the next ice age by 100,000 years. Typically, ice ages occur once every 50,000 years or so; as they have in at least eight regularly intervalled times in the Earth's history.
VW wants to fix emissions cheating with catalytic converters
Volkswagen has already promised to recall US vehicles caught up in its emissions cheating scandal, but how is it actually going to fix most of them? We now have a good idea. Bild, the Financial Times and Reuters all hear that VW is proposing the installation of a catalytic converter (reportedly "made in part from new materials") on 430,000 of the 600,000-plus affected cars sold in the US. It's not certain whether or not the country's Environmental Protection Agency is onboard with the idea, but that may answered when VW chief Matthias Müller meets with the American regulator on January 13th.
VW isn't handing documents to US emissions investigators
Volkswagen may be willing to recall vehicles affected by its emissions cheating scandal, but that doesn't mean that it's being entirely cooperative with investigators. Attorney general offices in multiple American states report that VW is refusing to hand over documents covering executives' communications -- that would violate German privacy laws, the company says. Whether or not it would, the moves are making it difficult to determine how much higher-ups knew about dodgy car emissions before the facts became public. And this isn't the only instance where it wasn't forthcoming. In filing a lawsuit against VW, the Justice Deparment claimed that the car maker had "impeded and obstructed" investigations.
US government sues VW for clean air act violations
The US government has just announced that it has filed suit against Volkswagen (as well as its luxury brands Audi and Porsche) for alleged violating the clean air act. This response is the first official response from the govenment since it was revealed that hundreds of thousands of diesel-powered Volkswagen cars in the US (as well as millions more around) contained software that reduced emissions when in an emissions-testing mode -- but when in normal operation, they produced nitrous oxide gases at over 40 times the claimed rate.
VW to set up emissions claims program for your lawsuits
Volkswagen announced on Thursday that it is establishing an independent claims program led by Ken Feinberg, the man that handled both the government's payout efforts for 9/11 victims and Transocean's compensation for people affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill. Feinberg "will develop an independent, fair and swift process," according to the company, for resolving the more than 500 lawsuits that VW is currently facing. There's no word, however, on when the program will officially launch. The company is also still waiting on approval for its proposed repairs from regulators.
