Sounds like a movie some of you may have seen, but this might be a far worse nightmare, for Volkswagen. The latest news has put a 28 day deadline imposed on the company by a United States federal judge to come up with a solution to the estimated 600,000 cars affected by the Dieselgate scandal. By this time in about four weeks, Volkswagen will have violated the order and that’s simply not a lot of time if you were counting down from today.
However, Volkswagen has probably been calculating this eventuality for some time, with the emergence of the issue dating back months back in time. The ultimatum order calls for the company to step up and deliver a viable fix for the affected vehicles.
Back in September of 2015, the company admitted that diesel vehicles dating back to as far back as 2009 were affected by a cheat that allowed the vehicles to pass emissions testing. In reality, the vehicles were able to put out as many as 40 times the acceptable level of NOx emissions than what was described to the public.
There are two striking elements to this case. First, the company has to come up with a fix, which they have no doubt been working on for some time behind closed doors. Next, the company has to be looking at tremendous logistics in carrying out the specifics of whatever plan they are planning to deliver.
It is unknown what will happen should the deadline be missed, but it will be something to watch. Ultimately, the possibility of a total vehicle buyback remains, but you can bet Volkswagen will do all it can to avoid that if possible.
