A part of the public opinion outside the USA and across many countries think that the American reaction to this emissions discrepancy is grossly exaggerated. Some even say that this was not a violation on behalf of VW but a way round the testing methods applied so far.

The above attitude is based on several factors:

  • The love for diesel cars in the ROW due to their lower consumption given the high fuel prices.
  • The high esteem in which VW Group and the VW brand in particular are held outside USA.
  • The fact that the ROW by a large majority are very suspicious and wary of US government/governmental agencies  decisions and actions which affect external persons and entities (think CIA, NSA, FinCEN etc. and now EPA) . People think that  Americans put their finger in everything around the world from security matters to banking and even to trivialities like the abolition of prostitution! There is also the wide held belief that historically successive US governments have been applying double standards in their international outlook.

 

Hence there is a strong body of opinion that view the US Environmental Protection Agency's severe handling of the VW affair as politically motivated. Something like giving someone a life sentence for exceeding the speed limit. 

In this negative environment various each groups of people or nationalities could envisage several plots, some plausible and others far fetched.


--

"Form follows function"