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German Automakers Formed a Secret Cartel In the '90s To Collude On Diesel Emissions, Says Report (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Last week, Der Spiegel published an explosive report alleging that the major German automakers formed a secret cartel in the 1990s to collude on diesel emissions. These companies, including Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Porsche, and Daimler, met in secret working groups to discuss "the technology, costs, suppliers, and even the exhaust gas purification of its diesel vehicles," the German weekly reported. The meetings were disclosed to German competition officials in letters from VW and Daimler and viewed by Der Spiegel. The secret meetings "laid the basis" for the 2015 diesel emission cheating scandal, in which VW was caught installing secret software in more than half a million vehicles sold in the US that it used to fool exhaust emissions tests. The admission of cheating ultimately cost the automaker tens of billions of dollars in fines and legal fees, making it one of the most expensive corporate scandals in history.
Years earlier, VW participated in dozens of secret meetings with its competitors, involving over 200 employees in up to 60 working groups, on how to meet increasingly tough emissions criteria in diesel vehicles. The automakers may have colluded to fix prices of a diesel emission treatment called AdBlue through these working groups, Der Spiegel says. Specifically, VW (which owns Porsche and Audi), Daimler (which owns Mercedes-Benz and Smart), and BMW allegedly agreed to use AdBlue tanks that were too small. AdBlue is a liquid solution used to counteract a vehicle's emissions.
Years earlier, VW participated in dozens of secret meetings with its competitors, involving over 200 employees in up to 60 working groups, on how to meet increasingly tough emissions criteria in diesel vehicles. The automakers may have colluded to fix prices of a diesel emission treatment called AdBlue through these working groups, Der Spiegel says. Specifically, VW (which owns Porsche and Audi), Daimler (which owns Mercedes-Benz and Smart), and BMW allegedly agreed to use AdBlue tanks that were too small. AdBlue is a liquid solution used to counteract a vehicle's emissions.
I'm sorry, it seems I've made a spelling error. And upon reflection, your glib sarcasm was meant as a rebuke of European claims of superiority on environmental claims, when in fact it turns out that things like relying on diesel were economic rather than environmental - despite broad claims otherwise. I'll try to be more thoughtful with my posts in the future.
It went all the way up the company, now it appears, it went all the way up the entire damned industry.
The real question then, becomes what else is going on? We already know that the lead in gasoline was a scandal for decades, the whole business with tobacco, the petrocompanies lying about climate reports, and even New Coke.
I suggest we start the executions.
I don't know where you got that from, but VW did not stop selling diesel vehicles for three years. That would be economic suicide for a major car producer.
I also don't share your conclusion. Diesel is only 'dirtier' if you only care about NOx. All of the really nasty stuff (ultra-fine particulate, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide) is produced in larger quantities by petrol engines and the gap is getting wider. Scrutiny may be increasing and NOx emissions may be much more in focus than they were in the past, but diesel will continue to be the most economic means of propulsion for larger cars, vabs and trucks for quite some time and I don't see the market share of diesel cars going below 40% anytime soon. Manufacturers still have to meet their CO2 goals and consumers who drive a lot will still want to use less and cheaper fuel. Diesel isn't dead until internal combustion is.
This, exactly.
Because many of the emissions regulations were written for social engineering purposes. Not to actually clean up air. A few simple fixes do make some sense. Like not venting gasoline and crankcase fumes to the atmosphere. Easy fixes. But the whole NOx regulation thing was due to a bunch of no-cars liberals getting a hard on over muscle cars in the '60s and '70s. Muscle cars (and diesels) have high compression ratios, higher combustion temperatures, burn fuel (and particulates) more efficiently, but produce NOx. Not really a bad tradeoff, as NOx is naturally occurring (see the Nitrogen Cycle). It might be a problem in the LA basin, but California can go fuck themselves for building cities in unsuitable environments. In the rest of the country, NOx is a non issue.
There is a trade-off between burning diesel fuel hotter for higher performance and lower particulates, but higher NOx. And burning cooler for lower NOx, but lower particulates and lower performance. VW simply chose the solution which best suits emissions issues in 99% of the world.
Have gnu, will travel.