New Wearable Technology: Vw falls on the stock market (-18.6%) after “trick” diesel emissions. Use, survey and test extended to other houses

Monday, September 21, 2015

Vw falls on the stock market (-18.6%) after “trick” diesel emissions. Use, survey and test extended to other houses – Il Sole 24 Ore

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This article was published September 21, 2015 at 21:40.
The last change is the 21 September 2015 at 22:42.

Volkswagen paying dearly in the stock market scam controls on emissions from diesel engines in the United States. The shares of the number one European car lost 18.6% in Frankfurt after a drop to mid-morning to a minimum of € 126.40, a decline of over 22% compared to the 162.4 of closing Friday. The title reflects the maximulta that the group could be imposed by US authorities (fine that at worst, according to the EPA regulations, the American authority for the protection of the environment, could reach up to $ 18 billion) . And the prospect of the criminal investigation launched by the Ministry of Justice for violation of the anti-smog.

The US then extended the investigation also in diesel vehicles of other automakers, announced the EPA: have already begun the first tests on so-called defeat devices. “It’s fair to say that we are quite concerned about the reports we have seen to their way, but in the end the responsibility to investigate and speak lies in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and that’s exactly what he’s doing,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

According to a report released yesterday by the Alliance Bernstein sanction hardly come to the maximum allowed, because it could be linked to the size of VW in the US alone and not the group as a whole. The only fine but could easily exceed the $ 1.2 billion that Toyota paid in 2010; not counting the cost of recalls, image damage and possible criminal charges. The market, for now, seems to have embraced the theory more pessimistic: the stock lost 36 euro fact when Max Warburton – analyst at Alliance Bernstein – last estimated at EUR 35 per share impact of the highest fine.

A spokesman announced that the group will block the sale of the 4-cylinder diesel models of Volkswagen and Audi in the United States. The models in question represent 23% of sales of the German group in the US in August. Meanwhile, the German Ministry of Environment announced ordered the “extensive testing” on all diesel models Volkswagen. The announcement in Bild Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt. “I have asked the Federal Office car to immediately conduct specific tests and extensive diesel models of Volkswagen by independent experts,” said the minister to the newspaper.

On Sunday, the chief executive, Martin Winterkorn, admitted fraud on anti-pollution tests in the US and apologized for the incident: “The board of Volkswagen – Winterkorn says the statement – takes very seriously the violations found. I am personally deeply sorry that we disappointed the trust of our customers and the public. ” The manager ensures that Vw “cooperates with the authorities to clarify the matter fully and as quickly as possible.” VW has also entrusted to an outside company commissioned to conduct an inquiry into the case, and suspended with immediate effect the sale of models equipped with 2-liter diesel engine “offending”, which in the US are Golf, Jetta, Passat, Beetle and Audi A3.

Given the track record of the competition, it is possible that the same manager (or any of his subordinates) is forced to apologize in public in front of the Congress, as had happened to Mary Bar GM and Toyota’s Akio Toyoda. The first for the case of faulty ignition blocks, for which GM has been hit recently by the Department of Justice with a fine of 900 million dollars; Toyoda five years ago, the scandal of vehicles that suddenly accelerated out of the driver could restrain them.

The case Vw erupted when the EPA found that Volkswagen and Audi cars with 2-liter diesel engine ( the same that equips many cars of the group Vw sold in Europe) emit many more oxides of nitrogen in normal conditions than during the specific tests. After extensive research and experiments, he found that charge is a software – specially installed in the engine control unit – that recognizes the test conditions and active only in that case the devices more efficient control of emissions; the latter are deactivated during normal driving, and the engine then produces from 10 to 40 times the amount of nitrogen oxides declared according to the tests. Volkswagen acknowledged that vehicles actually contained the offending software.

Why would? According to experts, the devices that restrict emissions of nitrogen do consume more engine, and therefore emit more CO2; It may also affect performance, in particular the torque which is one of the strengths of diesel engines than in petrol. At this point, the limited success of the diesel engine in the US, where the engine and especially German companies Volkswagen have become paladins, is to undergo a major blow. The Americans, like the Japanese, have always been convinced that the diesel engine is an inherently dirty and unfit to cars; VW will not make the case that this rinconfermare their opinion.