Core77

Reporter's Theory: The VW Scandal was Due to Their Corporate Culture

Diesel do's and don'ts

By Rain Noe - October 2, 2015

in Design Business | Cars

Let me tell you how a car salesman once quickly sold me on a Volkswagen. He was a large, obese man, which is relevant. On a test drive, he sat in the passenger seat and my father sat in the rear seat behind me; the two of us together provided just about enough ballast to even the car out. As we pulled out of the dealership lot, the salesman directed me towards a very steep hill, and asked me to drive up the hill in second gear as he turned the air conditioner on full blast. With all three of us in the car I thought for sure it would choke, but the car accelerated up the hill as smoothly as if we'd been traveling on flat ground.

The proof was in the pudding, and the car served me well for five years. (I sold it and joined ZipCar when Manhattan parking became too expensive.) It lived up to the hype, and if I had to buy another car, I'd get another Volkswagen in a heartbeat.

So I was shocked when the scandal broke. I'm a fan of not only the VW brand but German engineering in general, and could not understand how such a technically competent company could be motivated to cheat.

Also disturbing was the nefariousness of the cheating. This was no simple fudging of figures on a chart, no rounding down when they should have been rounding up; instead software had been installed across the board on diesel models, and this software detected when an emissions test was being conducted and then secretly switched the engine over to a lean mode.

I've been eagerly awaiting the results of the investigation to see how this could have happened. But in the meantime, Reuters Breakingviews reporter Edward Hadas has published an Op-Ed piece containing his theories. VW fans among you will certainly want to read the article in full, but here are some of his salient points:

So how was it allowed it happen? Look to the corporate culture. The feuding cousins at the top of Volkswagen and Porsche promoted people with the same basic management style. In that kind of environment, three things tend to occur. Talented and arrogant executives do well. Bosses fail to delegate important decisions. Subordinates are expected to succeed, not to moan about problems which they cannot solve.

The hard style naturally travelled from top to bottom. So it is easy to imagine the pressure on the engineers who had been ordered to find a low-price way to keep diesel emissions down on a new engine model. The company's reputation for technical excellence was on the line. So was the strategy in the crucial North American market, where VW was struggling. Failure was not an option.

… A few enterprises have managed to maintain cultures which combine aggression and ambition with unflinching rectitude and constant self-examination, at least for a while. General Electric is a definite contender for the global all-round prize. Fans of VW's more luxurious German rival BMW might put it forward, but corporate life is generally easier for producers of luxury products with high profit margins than for mass-market players. Toyota was once the exception to this principle, but rapid expansion eventually compromised the Japanese company's commitment to excellence.

Speaking of Toyota, I find it interesting that people seem more outraged at Volkswagen's deceit than Toyota's accelerator scandal and GM's ignition switch scandal--even though Volkswagen's lies didn't kill a single person, while the Toyota and GM problems directly led to people's deaths. Why do you suppose that is? (That's not a rhetorical question, I'm genuinely asking you.)

Read Hadas' full piece here.

o

Favorite This
Q
7

Comment

Comments

simiannemesis simiannemesis

9 years ago

Z

1Z

Reply

They have killed thousands of people from air pollution by deliberately cheating the system designed to protect people...then there is the climate change effect.... Doesn't get much worse than that.

Volkswagen's rigging of emissions tests for 11m cars means they may be responsible for nearly 1m tonnes of air pollution every year...an increasing proportion of the toxic NO2 gas has been detected in EU diesel emissions. A study in the British Medical Journal in May found that short-term exposure to NO2 increased the number of premature deaths from heart and lung disease by 0.88% and 1.09%.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/22/vw-scandal-caused-nearly-1m-tonnes-of-extra-pollution-analysis-shows

!Report as spam
- Noodle Time
  
  simiannemesis simiannemesis
  
  9 years ago
  
  Z
  
  Z
  
  Reply
  
  i love the smell of diesel fumes, especially the older diesel engines.....
  
  !Report as spam
John Zimmatore

9 years ago

Z

1Z

Reply

The difference here is VW's misdeed was planned a priori. GM and Toyota's was cover-up post hoc, but with no ill intent a priori.

!Report as spam
Ian Surra

9 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

For some insight into the mentioned Toyota and GM "scandals", this is an excellent read.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/04/the-engineers-lament

!Report as spam
Philip Proctor

9 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Toyota wasn't found at fault if I remember correctly.

!Report as spam
Noodle Time

9 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

p.s. i added comment to:http://www.core77.com/posts/40807/Combining-Bed-Risers-with-Power-Strips%E2%80%94Badly

!Report as spam
Noodle Time

9 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Personally, I have no issue with the emissions scandal, as i think the emissions regulations are a joke anyways. They keep raising the bar, as a means to stay relevant. The irony being that there are tons of older cars on the road that have worse emissions, and nothing is said of them.

That being said, i think the reason that so many seem to have more of an issue with this than the GM or Toyota scandals, is that VW did this on purpose, and it affected ALL models. Sure GM and Toyota did things knowingly, but their goal was not to kill people, and from public view, it did not have the same killing effect on every model. And the fact that the diesels are marketed to a more 'environmentally conscious' crowd, is why i think they are getting more hype. All 3 had the ultimate goal of selling more cars.

I have also scratched my head, wondering what the big deal was, especially in comparison to past manufacturers.

!Report as spam