Latest news with #Dieselgate
The Independent
01-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
German court suspends diesel scandal trial of former Volkswagen CEO Winterkorn
A German court has suspended proceedings in the trial of former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, who has been charged with fraud and market manipulation in connection with Volkswagen's use of rigged software that let millions of diesel-engine cars cheat on emissions tests. The regional court in Braunschweig on Tuesday cited an unspecified health issue that meant Winterkorn, 78, was not in a condition to face trial. The court said in a statement that it had "provisionally terminated' the proceedings. It said the health issue represented a 'temporary impediment' and would continue to be reviewed with the help of an expert so that proceedings could resume if Winterkorn recovers. Winterkorn went on trial in September, 2024 but the proceedings were suspended a few days later after Winterkorn had an accident. Germany's code of criminal procedure allows for a court to provisionally terminate proceedings 'if the absence of the indicted accused or some other personal impediment prevents the main hearing being held for a considerable time.' Prosecutors say Winterkorn knew about the illegal software well before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its discovery of the violation in September 2015. He resigned days later. He has said he learned about the practice only shortly before the announcement and earlier testified during civil proceedings that the allegations against him 'are not correct.' In May, four former Volkswagen managers were convicted of fraud and two of them given prison sentences for their part in the manipulation of emissions controls. The former head of diesel development was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, and the head of drive train electronics to two years and seven months by the court in Braunschweig. Two others received suspended sentences of 15 months and 10 months. The company has paid more than $33 billion in fines and compensation to vehicle owners. Two VW managers received prison sentences in the U.S. The former head of the company's Audi division, Rupert Stadler, was given a suspended sentence of 21 months and a fine of 1.1 million euros ($1.25 million). The sentence is still subject to appeal. .
Motor Trend
19-06-2025
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
2026 Volkswagen Cars Lineup: Hope You're OK With Crumbs
Volkswagen is still figuring out its strategy for the United States. After a hard push for electrification in the wake of the Dieselgate scandal VW has walked back its efforts to bring more EVs to our shores with the cancelation of the ID7 for the US market. Volkswagen's 2026 lineup sees minor updates after a 2025 model year overhaul. The Jetta gets standard rear seatbelt pre-tensioners and a new audio system. The GTI and Golf R remain mostly unchanged. The ID Buzz continues with existing trims and a standard two-in-one charging cable. This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article Read Next Still, the automaker's lineup supports a range of body styles and powertrain options. All of VW's non-SUV nameplates were either newly introduced or refreshed for 2025, so its existing models carry over to 2026 with only minor tweaks. Read on for all updates and changes to the 2026 Volkswagen cars lineup. 2026 Volkswagen Jetta A refreshed Volkswagen Jetta just arrived for 2025 with new exterior design, a reworked interior, and fresh tech. The 2026 Volkswagen Jetta carries over with only a few updates. Rear seatbelt pre-tensioners are now standard, and Volkswagen also includes an updated seatbelt reminder, seemingly in a bid to better the Poor score it has received from IIHS. Finally, VW equips a new eight-speaker audio system for the SEL and Jetta GLI Autobahn trims. MotorTrend Ranked: No. 7 in compact sedans (2025 model). Read Our Experts' Full Volkswagen Jetta Review 2026 Volkswagen GTI Like the Jetta, the 2026 Volkswagen GTI is still fresh from a major update that arrived for the 2025 model year. Volkswagen introduced revised exterior accents including new headlights and taillights as well as new wheel designs. Inside the cabin, the GTI got a new voice assistant powered by Chat GPT. Volkswagen did away with the capacitive touch controls on the GTI's steering wheel in favor of new physical buttons. All trims carry over for 2026. Read Our Experts' Full Volkswagen GTI Review 2026 Volkswagen Golf R The 2026 Volkswagen Golf R is only available with the Euro Style package, which was introduced as part of the 2025 refresh. Other updates from the prior model year include Graphite Gray Metallic, now offered as a new exterior color. Read Our Experts' Full Volkswagen Golf R Review 2026 Volkswagen ID Buzz With a design reminiscent of the first-generation T1 Transporter 'Microbus,' the Volkswagen ID Buzz just joined the automaker's lineup for the 2025 model year. Volkswagen drops the First Edition trim as the all-electric ID Buzz moves into its second model year. For 2026, the electric van carries over in Pro S and Pro S Plus trims with a ZEV3 two-in-one charging cable now standard. Volkswagen says in an official release that details on the 2026 ID Buzz will be announced later, so it's possible that a special edition model could join the lineup. Read Our Experts' Full Volkswagen ID Buzz Review 2026 Volkswagen Cars Lineup 2026 Volkswagen Jetta: Minor Update 2026 Volkswagen GTI: Unchanged 2026 Volkswagen Golf R: Minor Update 2026 Volkswagen ID Buzz: Minor Update
Top Gear
28-05-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Porsche Macan Turbo
Events (or rather, an event) rather overtook whatever initial observations I had about the latest addition to the TG fleet, a Porsche Macan. Because, on the day this orange Turbo was turning up at Top Gear HQ in the UK, at Porsche HQ in Germany the company was holding its annual press conference. Now ordinarily, end-of-year financial results don't do much beyond revealing revenues and returns and sending me to sleep, but slowing sales in China, a slower-than-expected transition phase to electric, and supplier disruptions, have rocked the boat for most premium brands in Europe. Advertisement - Page continues below For Porsche, that meant two board members (in charge of sales and marketing, and finance and IT) were replaced earlier this year, while at the press conference it confirmed it was working on a new SUV with combustion and hybrid powertrains. Which might not seem newsworthy at all, but when's the last time since Dieselgate any manufacturer announced an all-new model that wasn't either totally electric, or able to be electric alongside conventional combustion? Thing is, when Porsche made the decision to make the second-generation Macan electric-only (aka a lifetime ago in R&D terms) everything pointed to mass EV uptake. But in the intervening years, the public hasn't embraced electric like governments and manufacturers had planned, hoped and increasingly prayed. Moreover, while the electric Taycan was a new model that sat alongside the Panamera, the second-generation Macan has replaced a top-selling petrol model (80k+ sales most years, usually neck-and-neck with the Cayenne) with one that's less accessible. Less accessible because it's £10k pricier, and less accessible because all those urban-dwelling owners without off-street parking are going to find getting energy into it more difficult than filling up with petrol. The solution is another SUV, which almost certainly will share its underneath bits with Audi's Q5 – just as the Mk1 Macan did. Why? Because Audi has just launched another generation of combustion Q5 (on a new platform Porsche will have access to) and a new, similar-sized electric Q6 e-tron (which shares a different, electric-only platform with the Mk2 Macan). Advertisement - Page continues below It's what Porsche, in retrospect, should have done – but hindsight is a wonderful thing and a Q5/Q6-type dual strategy would have been costly, so Porsche hedged on an electric future when that's what legislation and public sentiment seemed to be leaning toward. The problem is, reversing the decision will now cost even more. There'll be a drop in annual electric Macan sales, plus a combustion-Macan-sized gap in its sales portfolio until the end of the decade, and the R&D spend of hundreds of millions of pounds to fill said void. And then to top it all off, Porsche probably can't call the new SUV 'Macan' as well, purely to save face. Let's leave all that now though, because the here and now sees this Porsche Macan on the Top Gear fleet. And whatever turmoil exists around it, it's here on merit, as both the winner of our 'Best EV Sports SUV' category in the 2024 Top Gear EV Awards, and as our 'Performance SUV of the Year' in the 2024 Top Gear Awards. You don't get two such gongs without being properly good, so we're expecting to be impressed in the coming months…
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Dieselgate pollution killed 16,000 people in UK, study estimates
The excess pollution emitted as a result of the Dieselgate scandal has killed about 16,000 people in the UK and caused 30,000 cases of asthma in children, according to a new analysis. A further 6,000 premature deaths will occur in coming years without action, the researchers said. The Dieselgate scandal erupted in 2015 when diesel cars were found to be emitting far more toxic air pollution on the roads than when they passed regulatory tests, due to the use of illegal 'defeat devices'. Large fines and compulsory recalls of vehicles to remove or disable the defeat devices took place in the US. But experts say the UK and most EU countries have lagged far behind, leading to devastating impacts on health, and urge immediate action. Many millions of highly polluting diesel vehicles remain on the roads in the UK and EU. The analysis estimated the impact of only the excess pollution released due to the defeat devices, not the total emissions from the cars. In the UK, these excess emissions had led to 800,000 days of sick leave and a total economic burden due to deaths and poor health of £96bn by 2024. Across the UK and EU combined, the fallout from Dieselgate has included about 124,000 early deaths and economic damage of €760bn (£637bn), the study estimated. Without action, a further 81,000 premature deaths and €430bn are projected by 2040, by which time most Dieselgate vehicles will no longer be in use. 'Our calculations reveal the widespread and devastating health impacts of excessive diesel emissions – thousands of lives cut short, countless children developing asthma, and an immense burden of chronic illness,' said Dr Jamie Kelly, at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea), which conducted the research for environmental law group ClientEarth. 'This is a crisis with a long and lingering legacy,' he said. 'Without action, these impacts will stretch far into the future, affecting generations to come. Governments have a responsibility to break this cycle.' ClientEarth lawyer Emily Kearsey said: 'The scale of the UK government's response has been completely disproportionate to the public health crisis that we're facing. Auto manufacturers have been trying to sweep the Dieselgate scandal under the carpet for too long. The UK government has the opportunity to finally stand up for people's health and hold polluters accountable.' Jemima Hartshorn, of campaign group Mums for Lungs, said: 'Millions of diesel cars on our roads are still emitting toxically high levels of pollution and it's costing our health, especially the health of our children.' Defeat devices have been illegal since before the Dieselgate scandal but in 2020 new UK law placed a duty on the government to investigate vehicles suspected of using defeat devices. New powers in 2021 enabled the government to create laws that could force manufacturers to recall vehicles on environmental grounds. These powers have yet to be used, although it is believed a consultation is planned. In 2023, ClientEarth sent a legal complaint to the government based on the strong evidence that many vehicles using defeat devices remained on the road. After this, the government said in 2024 that it was investigating 47 different car models under 20 brands by 11 manufacturers, and that more would follow. In the US, regulators fined Volkswagen £1.45bn and the company also had to pay $5bn into pollution mitigation funds for its role in Dieselgate. It was also forced to fix the cars or buy them back. In contrast, the UK has imposed no fines on any car company nor forced any recalls. 'In the UK, and the EU on the whole, there's just not been anywhere near the same level of accountability,' said Kearsey. Instead, individual consumers have been left to fight for financial compensation from manufacturers through the UK courts, leaving the excessively polluting vehicles on our roads. Almost 2 million consumer claims are now being pursued in the high court against 18 auto-manufacturers alleged to have used prohibited defeat devices. In 2022, Volkswagen agreed to pay £193m to 91,000 drivers in England and Wales. Some car manufacturers have undertaken voluntary recalls to fix the vehicles but public information on this is limited and only a small fraction of affected vehicles are likely to have been covered. The Crea report used data on car fleets and real-world emissions and modelling to estimate the impact of the excess emissions due to Dieselgate. The models have been widely used in scientific research and the relationships between nitrogen dioxide and small particle pollution and ill health and deaths were taken from published studies. The analysis considered emissions that were more than double the legal limit as excess and almost certainly due to the use of defeat devices. It covered such diesel vehicles approved from 2009. A stricter real-world emissions test was fully implemented in the EU in 2021. Prof Suzanne Bartington, at the University of Birmingham, UK, said it was clear that the toxic emissions led to early deaths and disease. She said a more conservative approach would not have added the premature deaths from NO2 and from small particles together, as it is unclear to what extent each contributes to mortality individually. 'We tend to use the higher of either estimate,' she said. That approach would give an estimate of 13,000 Dieselgate deaths in the UK by 2024, rather than the Crea central estimate of 16,000. On Monday, a regional court in Germany sentenced four former VW managers for fraud, with two sent to prison and two given suspended sentences. A Department for Transport spokesperson said: 'Defeat devices are illegal, misleading for drivers and can have negative health impacts on the public. We routinely and robustly check vehicles against emission standards and acted quickly to set up an investigation on this matter. We will work with industry to resolve any issues identified.'
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Volkswagen executives get prison time in 'Dieselgate' scandal
Punishments were handed out for Volkswagen (VWAGY) executives involved in the emissions-cheating scandal that rocked the auto industry a decade ago. Two former executives, Jens Hadler and Hanno Jelden, are heading to prison, while two others received suspended sentences. The case slowly ground through the European legal system, finally culminating on Monday with a panel of judges in Braunschweig, Germany, a city near Volkswagen's headquarters. It took four hours to read the sentences for the guilty. Presiding Judge Christian Schütz said the group of defendants acted as a 'gang' and described their actions as 'particularly serious' fraud. Volkswagen has admitted that some of its engineers installed software in diesel-powered vehicles that caused the cars to recognize when they were being tested for emissions and adjust their emissions to meet the standards. A criminal court filing in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Michigan in 2017 accused six Volkswagen executives of various crimes, including conspiracy. 'Purpose of the conspiracy was for to 'unlawfully enrich VW and themselves by, among other things, A) deceiving U.S. regulators in order to obtain necessary Certificates to sell diesel vehicles n the United States, B) selling VW vehicles to U.S. customers knowing that those vehicles were intentionally designed to detect, evade, and defeat U.S. emissions standards.' The criminal complaint says the conspiracy began at least as early as May 2006 and continued through 2015. Because the VW executives are based overseas and have not been extradited to the United States, the criminal proceedings have been on hold. The legal action, instead, has been in Europe where over 30 Volkswagon employees have been caught up in what has been dubbed the 'Dieselgate' scandal In 2015, when the scandal first began to unravel, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that nearly 500,000 Volkswagen cars sold in the country between 2009 and 2015 had 'defeat device' software installed, which is designed to detect when a car is being tested for emissions and lower them accordingly. Meanwhile, out on the road, these cars released up to 40 times more pollution than allowed by the rules. Shareholders largely shrugged off the court action. Shares were trading 2% higher at opening today. —Jason Karaian contributed to this article. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
