fritz:
apias:
Lars997:
The share price just dropped underneath 100,- € - lowest low 95,51....
I think the board needs to meet today, not wait till Friday, and Winterkorn has to go whether he was responsible or not, to try and stop the bleeding. I can't believe they put this meeting off this long.
I've never understood the reasoning behind wanting to find a scapegoat regardless of actual culpability when things go wrong. It makes a mockery of real justice. To sack someone who is not guilty of direct involvement to stop the bleeding of the company is no different than a Mayan human sacrifice, and society should have moved on from there by now.
1.Winterkorn is the boss, he has the responsibility over all his people, so he has to go (and he did). This doesn't mean that he is the one who needs to go to prison or the one who has to face criminal charges but negligence is also punishable, so...
2. The real culprit(s) need to be found, no doubt about it. He/she or they are facing prison time and a hefty fine, also very likely a personal liability if VW sends their lawyers after them (and I am pretty sure they will). It will take time though and it also needs to be clarified if the software engineers and their superiors were working on behalf of a direct order from their superiors, which I think they did. A simple software engineer or engineer doesn't do this stuff by his own, he found the "solution" but the green light comes from his superior or the superior of his superior.
3. There may be some human sacrifice on behalf of VW but actually, I'm not so sure about it anymore. This is a huge scandal with international and political implications. Eventually, a governmental investigation committee will be created, which is a good thing because a third party gets involved, making it harder for VW to find a scapegoat fast and try to cover everything else up. It won't happen, I am pretty sure about this.
Unfortunately, I also think that VW is done here. It will be very difficult for them to recover from this mess. I am not even talking about the business per se, people will still buy Audi and VW because the products aren't bad and most people couldn't care less about emissions, sad but true, even if the outrage is huge right now. This may actually be a good chance to buy a VW or Audi at a more attractive price because Audi/VW dealers are quite scared right now, at least over here in Germany.
Long story short: VW won't really recover from this, ever. Which brings another good point to the table: Could it be in the interest of the other brands within the VW Group to re-group and even get more independence, financially and from the decision-making process? VW will never achieve their goal to become the number one car maker in the world, so maybe it is time to re-think the strategy and concentrate on their core markets and products? Just saying.
--
RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet, Porsche Macan Turbo, Ford Mustang GT500 Shelby SVT (2014), Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT (2014)