Hampster Gull
Well-known member
- Dec 22, 2010
- 13,465
- Thread starter
- #41
A CEO down. Much more to follow.
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VW
- Thread starter Hampster Gull
- Start date
thedonkeycentrehalf
Moved back to wear the gloves (again)
- Jul 7, 2003
- 9,347
It'll be interesting to see what impact it has on owners (I say this as someone with a fairly new Golf Diesel).
Looking at the forums, the owners in the US are worried that their cars could have the engine management software adjusted and that their cars will lose a lot of power / performance. There are even suggestions that given the relatively low number of cars affected in the US, VW North America may even consider a buy back to get the cars off the road and also to minimise the litigation from owners who may find it difficult to resell their cars in future.
In the UK, if the cars remain as is, I wonder if the car tax situation on these will change. Many owners bought these as they have very low annual tax costs so could reasonably expect to have any increase covered by VW. Company car owners who are taxed on the emissions may also need compensating if the tax bands of the affected cars were to be changed.
Whatever the outcome, this is likely to cost VW a heck of a lot of cash.
Looking at the forums, the owners in the US are worried that their cars could have the engine management software adjusted and that their cars will lose a lot of power / performance. There are even suggestions that given the relatively low number of cars affected in the US, VW North America may even consider a buy back to get the cars off the road and also to minimise the litigation from owners who may find it difficult to resell their cars in future.
In the UK, if the cars remain as is, I wonder if the car tax situation on these will change. Many owners bought these as they have very low annual tax costs so could reasonably expect to have any increase covered by VW. Company car owners who are taxed on the emissions may also need compensating if the tax bands of the affected cars were to be changed.
Whatever the outcome, this is likely to cost VW a heck of a lot of cash.
Road tax and company car tax are based on CO2 which isn't the emission being fiddled. The one being fiddled is Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) which whilst nasty won't effect the tax.
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,019
i compare as % of global CO2 total, you refer to UK greenhouse gases of all transport, including lorries, shipping, air etc. once you normalise those, the point stands. government policy has focused too much on reducing CO2, taxing petrol cars quite specifically to discourage their use in favour of diesels, while overlooking (being generous) the other pollution. oops.
vegster
Sanity Clause
- May 5, 2008
- 28,273
I think you will find that it very much will be, I can't imagine that this will pass without legal claims for damages of some sort or another.
pb21
Well-known member
- Apr 23, 2010
- 6,689
OK, so global transport may account for around 1% of total global CO2 emissions, which you state is a tiny percentage and should not be taxed; presumably because you think that such a percentage doesn't have any impact?
If so, why don't you think 1% would have an impact? do you know what percentage would have an impact? I presume you know otherwise you wouldn't think that 1% doesn't have an impact?
RandyWanger
Je suis rôti de boeuf
"Mr Dobrindt said he had been told vehicles with 1.6 and 2.0 litre diesel engines are "affected by the manipulations that are being talked about"."
If you reduce an engines NOx output then performance and mpg will be reduced . This will then result in an increase in C02 .
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,019
not sure that conclusion is correct. i think you may end up with more unburnt fuel and other particles. one way to reduce NO is to run the fuel lean, which would result in less CO2.
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/mi...issions-tests-in-europe-says-german-minister/
Volkswagen has admitted to manipulating emissions tests in Europe as well as the US, according to Germany's Transport Minister.
Alexander Dobrindt said he had been informed that Volkswagen 1.6 TDI and 2.0 TDI engines were "affected by the manipulations that are being talked about." However, he said he did not know how many vehicles in Europe are affected.
However, it's still not clear whether these are NOx or CO2 tests. Official EU CO2 emissions tests are linked to fuel economy tests. The resulting 'claimed' economy figures are the ones manufacturers are able to state alongside their cars.
However, the gap between the claimed figures and what motorists are actually getting in real life has been widening for ten years. We've seen that in Real MPG - which was launched as a direct result of the growing discrepancy between official and real world figures.
The news could have huge ramifications across Europe with other manufacturers already being implicated, including BMW.
German magazine Auto Bild tested a diesel BMW X3 and found that emissions levels were actually 11 times the level set by the EU. BMW has already released a statement saying it 'does not manipulate or rig any emissions tests."
Mr Dobrindt is calling for real road conditions for emissions tests across Europe. He said it was "self-evident" that Germany "will concentrate its investigations not only on the Volkswagen models in question but will also do spot checks of other car manufacturers."
Earlier this week the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders - the industry body for car manufacturers in the UK - released a statement saying that the scandal was "an issue affecting just one company and there is no evidence to suggest that any other company is involved, let alone that this is an industry-wide issue."
That however now looks to be far from the case. The question is what will this mean for Volkswagen - and any other manufacturers - in Europe and the UK? The Volkswagen Group includes not only Volkswagen and Audi but also SEAT, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley.
The number of diesel cars sold under these brands across Europe is enormous. Here in the UK, diesel accounts for 50 per cent of new car sales.
If Volkswagen is discovered to have manipulated emissions and possibly fuel economy figures, the damage to firm could be catastrophic. The various fines are likely to be huge, plus the cost of recalling cars across Europe.
But perhaps the biggest and longer lasting damage would be to consumer confidence. For a brand known for its quality and 'you get what you pay for' advertising, these revelations could prove difficult to come back from.
The emissions scandal broke last week when Volkswagen admitted it had used specific software in the US to cheat the NOx emission test.
In the US, the Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Audi A3 - all from between 2009 and 2015 - along with the 2014 Passat were all software fitted that detected when a test was being carried out and could lower the emissions accordingly.
Volkswagen has since confirmed that 11 million cars worldwide are fitted with software that could potentially manipulate emissions test results. It has set aside £4.7bn to pay for cars in America to be recalled and for potential fines.
The revelations led to the Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigning this week, saying he was "utterly sorry." There are now rumours that several other key figures from the Volkswagen Group will be forced to resign including the head of Audi R&D Ulrich Hackenberg along with Porsche engine chief Wolfgang Hatz.
Volkswagen has admitted to manipulating emissions tests in Europe as well as the US, according to Germany's Transport Minister.
Alexander Dobrindt said he had been informed that Volkswagen 1.6 TDI and 2.0 TDI engines were "affected by the manipulations that are being talked about." However, he said he did not know how many vehicles in Europe are affected.
However, it's still not clear whether these are NOx or CO2 tests. Official EU CO2 emissions tests are linked to fuel economy tests. The resulting 'claimed' economy figures are the ones manufacturers are able to state alongside their cars.
However, the gap between the claimed figures and what motorists are actually getting in real life has been widening for ten years. We've seen that in Real MPG - which was launched as a direct result of the growing discrepancy between official and real world figures.
The news could have huge ramifications across Europe with other manufacturers already being implicated, including BMW.
German magazine Auto Bild tested a diesel BMW X3 and found that emissions levels were actually 11 times the level set by the EU. BMW has already released a statement saying it 'does not manipulate or rig any emissions tests."
Mr Dobrindt is calling for real road conditions for emissions tests across Europe. He said it was "self-evident" that Germany "will concentrate its investigations not only on the Volkswagen models in question but will also do spot checks of other car manufacturers."
Earlier this week the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders - the industry body for car manufacturers in the UK - released a statement saying that the scandal was "an issue affecting just one company and there is no evidence to suggest that any other company is involved, let alone that this is an industry-wide issue."
That however now looks to be far from the case. The question is what will this mean for Volkswagen - and any other manufacturers - in Europe and the UK? The Volkswagen Group includes not only Volkswagen and Audi but also SEAT, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Bentley.
The number of diesel cars sold under these brands across Europe is enormous. Here in the UK, diesel accounts for 50 per cent of new car sales.
If Volkswagen is discovered to have manipulated emissions and possibly fuel economy figures, the damage to firm could be catastrophic. The various fines are likely to be huge, plus the cost of recalling cars across Europe.
But perhaps the biggest and longer lasting damage would be to consumer confidence. For a brand known for its quality and 'you get what you pay for' advertising, these revelations could prove difficult to come back from.
The emissions scandal broke last week when Volkswagen admitted it had used specific software in the US to cheat the NOx emission test.
In the US, the Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Audi A3 - all from between 2009 and 2015 - along with the 2014 Passat were all software fitted that detected when a test was being carried out and could lower the emissions accordingly.
Volkswagen has since confirmed that 11 million cars worldwide are fitted with software that could potentially manipulate emissions test results. It has set aside £4.7bn to pay for cars in America to be recalled and for potential fines.
The revelations led to the Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigning this week, saying he was "utterly sorry." There are now rumours that several other key figures from the Volkswagen Group will be forced to resign including the head of Audi R&D Ulrich Hackenberg along with Porsche engine chief Wolfgang Hatz.
This won't start and end with VW.
There will be other volume car manufacturers feeling distinctly nervous right now.
maltaseagull
Well-known member
Not excusing VW and also agree that other manufacturers may have bought the same management systems.
But I would question the possible double standards where the EU limits are twice the levels of the USA. Is their limit only for imported cars as a hidden import tariff?
I wonder how many gas guzzlers are running around the US pouring out crap?
But I would question the possible double standards where the EU limits are twice the levels of the USA. Is their limit only for imported cars as a hidden import tariff?
I wonder how many gas guzzlers are running around the US pouring out crap?
[yt]CQ4irwe3ZDk[/YT]
beorhthelm
A. Virgo, Football Genius
- Jul 21, 2003
- 36,019
intersting video, seems to suggest they allow unburnt fuel through (run rich) for the test. a conclusion from this, and possibly why they thought it OK to do, is that the poor emissions are within certain driving conditions, miscalculating how much these conditions apply. say low revs around town.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...eron-s-testing-favour-to-merkel-a6668491.html
The Government is facing a political row over the independence and effectiveness of Britain’s automotive testing regime as the fallout from the Volkswagen emissions scandal continues to spread across Europe.
The former Liberal Democrat transport minister Norman Baker has claimed David Cameron buckled to pressure from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to delay new emissions limits.
Mr Baker, who served as transport minister from 2010 to 2013, said that Ms Merkel had personally telephoned the Prime Minister and called in a favour to protect her country’s car industry. He said that Mr Cameron’s U-Turn over EU emissions regulation had provoked “fury” within Government and from UK car firms.
“We had negotiated a good deal which both reduced overall emissions and had protections for niche British carmakers such as Aston Martin, but the Germans wanted super credits added back in, which are of no use to our manufactures but were very useful to BMW and Daimler, said Mr Baker.
Super credits are a clause in EU rules for rewarding a large manufacturer with permission to make high-emitting gas guzzlers if it also manufactures a certain number of electric cars or low emissions vehicles. Campaigners say the system has allowed large car makers to continue to produce high CO2 emitting vehicle in exchange for producing a small number of lower emissions vehicles.
Mr Baker added: “Having got the deal David Cameron then unpicked it. Merkel rang up and wanted a favour and idiotically he said yes. He damaged the British car industry and damaged the environment. It was Number 10 failing to involve [government] departments as usual that caused the problem.”
The chairman of the Commons Transport Committee, Louise Ellman, said Mr Baker’s claims raised a “very big questions” about outside influence on policy. “There is certainly a major question about the influence of the motor industry against the interests of the public,” she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. “Testing should be independent of manufacturers and of government and it doesn’t seem that that has been the case.”
The Government is facing a political row over the independence and effectiveness of Britain’s automotive testing regime as the fallout from the Volkswagen emissions scandal continues to spread across Europe.
The former Liberal Democrat transport minister Norman Baker has claimed David Cameron buckled to pressure from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to delay new emissions limits.
Mr Baker, who served as transport minister from 2010 to 2013, said that Ms Merkel had personally telephoned the Prime Minister and called in a favour to protect her country’s car industry. He said that Mr Cameron’s U-Turn over EU emissions regulation had provoked “fury” within Government and from UK car firms.
“We had negotiated a good deal which both reduced overall emissions and had protections for niche British carmakers such as Aston Martin, but the Germans wanted super credits added back in, which are of no use to our manufactures but were very useful to BMW and Daimler, said Mr Baker.
Super credits are a clause in EU rules for rewarding a large manufacturer with permission to make high-emitting gas guzzlers if it also manufactures a certain number of electric cars or low emissions vehicles. Campaigners say the system has allowed large car makers to continue to produce high CO2 emitting vehicle in exchange for producing a small number of lower emissions vehicles.
Mr Baker added: “Having got the deal David Cameron then unpicked it. Merkel rang up and wanted a favour and idiotically he said yes. He damaged the British car industry and damaged the environment. It was Number 10 failing to involve [government] departments as usual that caused the problem.”
The chairman of the Commons Transport Committee, Louise Ellman, said Mr Baker’s claims raised a “very big questions” about outside influence on policy. “There is certainly a major question about the influence of the motor industry against the interests of the public,” she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. “Testing should be independent of manufacturers and of government and it doesn’t seem that that has been the case.”
The Government is facing a political row over the independence and effectiveness of Britain’s automotive testing regime as the fallout from the Volkswagen emissions scandal continues to spread across Europe.
The former Liberal Democrat transport minister Norman Baker has claimed David Cameron buckled to pressure from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to delay new emissions limits.
Mr Baker, who served as transport minister from 2010 to 2013, said that Ms Merkel had personally telephoned the Prime Minister and called in a favour to protect her country’s car industry. He said that Mr Cameron’s U-Turn over EU emissions regulation had provoked “fury” within Government and from UK car firms.
“We had negotiated a good deal which both reduced overall emissions and had protections for niche British carmakers such as Aston Martin, but the Germans wanted super credits added back in, which are of no use to our manufactures but were very useful to BMW and Daimler, said Mr Baker.
Super credits are a clause in EU rules for rewarding a large manufacturer with permission to make high-emitting gas guzzlers if it also manufactures a certain number of electric cars or low emissions vehicles. Campaigners say the system has allowed large car makers to continue to produce high CO2 emitting vehicle in exchange for producing a small number of lower emissions vehicles.
Mr Baker added: “Having got the deal David Cameron then unpicked it. Merkel rang up and wanted a favour and idiotically he said yes. He damaged the British car industry and damaged the environment. It was Number 10 failing to involve [government] departments as usual that caused the problem.”
The chairman of the Commons Transport Committee, Louise Ellman, said Mr Baker’s claims raised a “very big questions” about outside influence on policy. “There is certainly a major question about the influence of the motor industry against the interests of the public,” she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. “Testing should be independent of manufacturers and of government and it doesn’t seem that that has been the case.”
The Government is facing a political row over the independence and effectiveness of Britain’s automotive testing regime as the fallout from the Volkswagen emissions scandal continues to spread across Europe.
The former Liberal Democrat transport minister Norman Baker has claimed David Cameron buckled to pressure from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to delay new emissions limits.
Mr Baker, who served as transport minister from 2010 to 2013, said that Ms Merkel had personally telephoned the Prime Minister and called in a favour to protect her country’s car industry. He said that Mr Cameron’s U-Turn over EU emissions regulation had provoked “fury” within Government and from UK car firms.
“We had negotiated a good deal which both reduced overall emissions and had protections for niche British carmakers such as Aston Martin, but the Germans wanted super credits added back in, which are of no use to our manufactures but were very useful to BMW and Daimler, said Mr Baker.
Super credits are a clause in EU rules for rewarding a large manufacturer with permission to make high-emitting gas guzzlers if it also manufactures a certain number of electric cars or low emissions vehicles. Campaigners say the system has allowed large car makers to continue to produce high CO2 emitting vehicle in exchange for producing a small number of lower emissions vehicles.
Mr Baker added: “Having got the deal David Cameron then unpicked it. Merkel rang up and wanted a favour and idiotically he said yes. He damaged the British car industry and damaged the environment. It was Number 10 failing to involve [government] departments as usual that caused the problem.”
The chairman of the Commons Transport Committee, Louise Ellman, said Mr Baker’s claims raised a “very big questions” about outside influence on policy. “There is certainly a major question about the influence of the motor industry against the interests of the public,” she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. “Testing should be independent of manufacturers and of government and it doesn’t seem that that has been the case.”
Attachments
RandyWanger
Je suis rôti de boeuf
Wolfsburg, 2015-09-29
Volkswagen AG announces action plan to refit diesel vehicles with EA 189 EU5 engines
• New vehicles with EU6 engines currently available not affected
• Technical solutions being developed and will be presented to responsible
authorities before end of October
Volkswagen AG is announcing its action plan to correct the emissions characteristics of diesel vehicles.
In a first step, the customers affected will be informed that the emissions characteristics of their vehicles will be corrected in the near future. All vehicles are technically safe and roadworthy.
Under the action plan, Volkswagen and the other Group brands whose vehicles are affected will present the technical solutions and measures to the responsible authorities in October. Customers with these vehicles will be kept informed over the coming weeks and months. All of the Group brands affected will set up national websites to update customers on developments.
An internal evaluation on Friday established that a service procedure is required for some five million vehicles from the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand out of a total eleven million Group vehicles worldwide. These vehicles from certain models and model years (such as the sixth generation Volkswagen Golf, the seventh generation Volkswagen Passat or the first generation Volkswagen Tiguan) are fitted with Type EA 189 diesel engines.
http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/vwcorp/info_center/en/news/2015/09/VW_Aktionsplan.html
Volkswagen AG announces action plan to refit diesel vehicles with EA 189 EU5 engines
• New vehicles with EU6 engines currently available not affected
• Technical solutions being developed and will be presented to responsible
authorities before end of October
Volkswagen AG is announcing its action plan to correct the emissions characteristics of diesel vehicles.
In a first step, the customers affected will be informed that the emissions characteristics of their vehicles will be corrected in the near future. All vehicles are technically safe and roadworthy.
Under the action plan, Volkswagen and the other Group brands whose vehicles are affected will present the technical solutions and measures to the responsible authorities in October. Customers with these vehicles will be kept informed over the coming weeks and months. All of the Group brands affected will set up national websites to update customers on developments.
An internal evaluation on Friday established that a service procedure is required for some five million vehicles from the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand out of a total eleven million Group vehicles worldwide. These vehicles from certain models and model years (such as the sixth generation Volkswagen Golf, the seventh generation Volkswagen Passat or the first generation Volkswagen Tiguan) are fitted with Type EA 189 diesel engines.
http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/vwcorp/info_center/en/news/2015/09/VW_Aktionsplan.html
glasfryn
cleaning up cat sick
serious question, when a car has had the bug thing taken out or diabled, is it probable that the car will fail the MOT because of the bad emissions?
AFAIK the MOT doesn't test for NOx emissions so either before or after the fix the legality of running your vehicle is not affected, because it's the type approval testing that is relevant (the testing VW cheated).
So on a technicality VW can rightly say the affected vehicles are legal until someone in officialdom says otherwise.
So on a technicality VW can rightly say the affected vehicles are legal until someone in officialdom says otherwise.
JC Footy Genius
Bringer of TRUTH
- Jun 9, 2015
- 10,568
The voice of reason 
http://www.theweek.co.uk/jeremy-cla...son-finally-reveals-the-identity-of-the-sting
Jeremy Clarkson springs to the defence of Volkswagen
28 September
Jeremy Clarkson has taken time out from working on his new Amazon motoring show to come to the defence of Volkswagen, the German car company currently embroiled in a scandal over its diesel-engine emissions tests.
According to Clarkson, the company's senior management should "stop wringing their hands and sweating in press conferences and go on the attack."
The whole issue has come about, Clarkson said in his column for The Sunday Times yesterday, due to "eco-mentalists" telling people first that diesel engines were less polluting than other engines before changing their minds and drawing attention to the damaging properties of the blend of nitrogen and oxygen – or NOX – the engines produced.
Various "soft-in-the-head governments" listened to those critiques and introduced new regulations on how much NOX a car could produce, Clarkson notes.
The new rules left VW with no choice but to redesign its engines, but the company went further and "fitted its engines with a clever bit of software that exaggerated their economy and cleanliness when they were being tested."
According to Clarkson, the trick is no different to everyday deceptions like lying on a CV or parking on double yellow lines.
As he sees it though, the risks to car makers and indeed Europe as a whole are huge if VW is "driven into the wilderness" by lawsuits, fines and damage to the company's reputation and sales. Because if VW goes out of business "the fallout would be immense because it owns Audi, Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda as well. So they'd also go to the wall.
"And without the profits from these engineering powerhouses Germany would no longer be in a position to bail out the Greeks or house half of Syria. Which would cause global economic collapse, a humanitarian catastrophe and many plagues."
Clarkson says that in his view what the company has done simply isn't that bad, so the punishment does not fit the crime.
"Put simply, then, Volkswagen looked at a set of arbitrary figures that had been dreamt up by a bunch of ill-informed, woolly-headed government officials and chose to ignore them. We are not talking about thalidomide here. Or Bhopal. It’s just a bit of good-natured rule-bending, and we all do that."
The 55-year-old presenter says that the whole issue is "rubbish" because "about 60 per cent of man-made NOX emissions do not come from road transport, and of the 40 per cent that do, the vast majority are from lorries and buses. So in the big scheme of things, your neighbour's Golf diesel makes no discernible difference."
Clarkson's claims on issues relating to pollution and the environment have been repudiated frequently by scientists and campaigners.
Bill McGuire, professor of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL described the presenter's Sunday Times columns as "barely coherent products of Clarkson's own fevered imagination".
Clarkson's view that VW has merely engaged in "well-intentioned and harmless cheating" sits in contrast with the official position of the governments of the US, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Italy, France, South Korea, Canada, Norway and India where investigations and legal proceedings are now underway.
http://www.theweek.co.uk/jeremy-cla...son-finally-reveals-the-identity-of-the-sting
Jeremy Clarkson springs to the defence of Volkswagen
28 September
Jeremy Clarkson has taken time out from working on his new Amazon motoring show to come to the defence of Volkswagen, the German car company currently embroiled in a scandal over its diesel-engine emissions tests.
According to Clarkson, the company's senior management should "stop wringing their hands and sweating in press conferences and go on the attack."
The whole issue has come about, Clarkson said in his column for The Sunday Times yesterday, due to "eco-mentalists" telling people first that diesel engines were less polluting than other engines before changing their minds and drawing attention to the damaging properties of the blend of nitrogen and oxygen – or NOX – the engines produced.
Various "soft-in-the-head governments" listened to those critiques and introduced new regulations on how much NOX a car could produce, Clarkson notes.
The new rules left VW with no choice but to redesign its engines, but the company went further and "fitted its engines with a clever bit of software that exaggerated their economy and cleanliness when they were being tested."
According to Clarkson, the trick is no different to everyday deceptions like lying on a CV or parking on double yellow lines.
As he sees it though, the risks to car makers and indeed Europe as a whole are huge if VW is "driven into the wilderness" by lawsuits, fines and damage to the company's reputation and sales. Because if VW goes out of business "the fallout would be immense because it owns Audi, Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda as well. So they'd also go to the wall.
"And without the profits from these engineering powerhouses Germany would no longer be in a position to bail out the Greeks or house half of Syria. Which would cause global economic collapse, a humanitarian catastrophe and many plagues."
Clarkson says that in his view what the company has done simply isn't that bad, so the punishment does not fit the crime.
"Put simply, then, Volkswagen looked at a set of arbitrary figures that had been dreamt up by a bunch of ill-informed, woolly-headed government officials and chose to ignore them. We are not talking about thalidomide here. Or Bhopal. It’s just a bit of good-natured rule-bending, and we all do that."
The 55-year-old presenter says that the whole issue is "rubbish" because "about 60 per cent of man-made NOX emissions do not come from road transport, and of the 40 per cent that do, the vast majority are from lorries and buses. So in the big scheme of things, your neighbour's Golf diesel makes no discernible difference."
Clarkson's claims on issues relating to pollution and the environment have been repudiated frequently by scientists and campaigners.
Bill McGuire, professor of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL described the presenter's Sunday Times columns as "barely coherent products of Clarkson's own fevered imagination".
Clarkson's view that VW has merely engaged in "well-intentioned and harmless cheating" sits in contrast with the official position of the governments of the US, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Italy, France, South Korea, Canada, Norway and India where investigations and legal proceedings are now underway.