FLEETDRIVE emissions tests, installing defeat devices in 11 million cars sold worldwide. On the other hand, Volkswagen denied modifying any software.
TROUBLE AT VOLKSWAGEN
Winterkorn resigned as CEO almost immediately after the news was publicised, but not without saying that Volkswagen had“ broken the trust of our customers and the public.” The former CEO was charged of fraud and conspiracy but was eventually indicted in 2018. He was replaced by former Porsche executive, Matthias Mueller. Meanwhile, Volkswagen Group CEO Michael Horn admitted that the conglomerate had“ totally screwed up,” to say the least.
Upon taking his new position at Volkswagen, Mueller was fully aware of the mess he had inherited from Winterkorn.“ My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group- by leaving no stone unturned,” he said.
Clean-up after Dieselgate included an internal inquiry and a global recall of millions of Volkswagen cars. Around USD 14.7 billion( AUD 22.6 billion) was set aside for settlements and other reparations, while the overall cost of their recall amounted around 12 billion AUD.
The scandal’ s eruption was so large that it affected countries like Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, India, and Australia, to name a few. In fact,
Australia penalised Volkswagen a whopping AUD 125 million for violating the Australian Consumer Law. Even stricter, South Korea penalised Volkswagen with a fine of around AUD 15 million and imposed a ban on 8 specific Volkswagen diesel models following the crisis.
A study published in Environmental Research Letters forecasted the health impact of the actual levels of NOx emissions, forecasting 59 premature deaths- 87 % of which are attributed to particulate pollution and the remaining 13 % due to ozone. Another study published in 2025 revealed the scandal’ s excess emissions are predicted to cause around 205,000 deaths from 2019 to 2040. That’ s right, we’ re still feeling the effects of this scandal to this day.
Volkswagen’ s reputation took a turn for the worst, with their stock price dropping a third. This indicated investors no longer trusted the brand and pulled their investments, forcing the VW Group lose market value of up to AUD 49.3 billion in less than a week.
The scandal didn’ t only drag down Volkswagen, but the entire automotive industry at the time. Several countries and many consumers began to question the validity of automakers’ emissions claims. Some 60 per cent of automakers also saw their market values decrease in the aftermath of the scandal.
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