A recent study from a university mechanical engineering team in the US revealed that Volkswagen have been deceiving emissions tests in their diesel vehicles. With actual emissions being about 20-40 times higher than quoted, the automotive giant has landed in hot water. The Volkswagen Automotive Group, which has a number of brands under it’s umbrella including Audi, Lamborghini, Skoda, Porsche and Bugatti, was accused of fitting what it calls a “defeat device” to their vehicles. This device could detect when a vehicle was in a test environment and would modify performance in order to create inconsistent emission test results.

Selling VW cars

It’s a well-known fact that a number of vehicles do perform much better in a test environment as compared to onroad performance.In recent years that has become even more common practice. This level of misleading figures however is generally considered to be clever cheating as opposed to an environmental scandal, as Volkwagen has been branded.

The verdict

If the EPA is able to convict VW, it is likely that the manufacturer will be required to pay up to $18billion USD in compensation for damages to the environment.

This is going to be a challenging time for Volkswagen, and if they’re smart, they’ll be able to bounce back with a new company culture and renewed set of moral standards now that the whole world is watching them.

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