I consider today to be the anniversary of Dieselgate because it marks ten years since Volkswagen received a notice from the Environmental Protection Agency stating that it was under investigation for installing a defeat device to cheat emissions tests.
As an autojournalist, I essentially boasted on Volkswagen’s behalf that it had made a vehicle that was both fun to drive and not as terrible for the environment. These were “clean diesels.” While I lacked the ability to investigate the software on cheater diesels, it was a good reminder not to take something so serious on the word of an automaker.
Volkswagen has since shifted into electric cars, but that doesn’t mean everything is going well at the automaker. A new report shows that the brewing software disaster hasn’t been solved by Rivian, or at least it hasn’t been solved yet.
The company is doing a little better with EVs, though even that work has been severely delayed. Perhaps that’s better than coming to market with a car that can’t sell, like Nissan did with the soon-to-be-discontinued Ariya.
That’s heavy. Do you want to see a Škoda? Lemme show you a Škoda.
Dieselgate Was A Self-Inflicted Wound
Above is the letter that set off a chain reaction that would cost Volkswagen tens of billions of dollars, force VW’s powerful boss Martin Winterkorn to resign, and send a few of the company’s employees to prison.
Here’s how it opens:
Dear Mr. Geanacopoulos and Mr. Johnson:
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has investigated and continues to investigate Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, and Volkswagen Group of America (collectively, VW) for compliance with the Clean Air Act (CAA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 7401–7671q, and its implementing regulations. As detailed in this Notice of Violation (NOV), the EPA has determined that VW manufactured and installed defeat devices in certain model year 2009 through 2015 diesel light-duty vehicles equipped with 2.0 liter engines. These defeat devices bypass, defeat, or render inoperative elements of the vehicles’ emission control system that exist to comply with CAA emission standards.
Mr. Geanacopoulos and Mr. Johnson were, respectively, Volkswagen Group of America’s head counsel and head of its Engineering and Environmental Office.
What the rest of us would learn was not the result of an ongoing and detailed investigation from the EPA, but rather the work of a small lab on the campus of West Virginia University. If you weren’t around for Dieselgate, it’s worth reading this report from NPR, which goes through how the issue was first discovered.
WVU research assistant professor Arvind Thiruvengadam and his colleagues test and experiment on cars and engines. He admits his is not the sexiest lab on campus, but he says he got superexcited when they won a grant in 2012 to test a few diesel cars.
“Our happiness was, ‘Wow, we are going to be the first guys to test diesel cars on the road,’ ” he says. “And then after that, when we were getting the data we were like ‘OK, we’re going to write a lot of journal papers, and we’ll be happy if three people read these journal papers.’ That’s our happiness at that point.”
The International Council on Clean Transportation is a nonprofit that tries to provide independent science to government agencies that regulate the environment. It hired the university to do a standard emissions tests on diesel cars in the U.S. Volkswagen has been hyping diesel cars that are environmentally friendly and fuel efficient. Volkswagen had the boldest claims and the highest sales, but Thiruvengadam tested two VW cars and found that the claims of low emissions never panned out in the real world.
“We were never seeing those low emissions during most part of our drives on the interstate. That part of the emissions program was interesting,” he says.
As researchers, they had to determine what Volkswagen was actually doing, and it’s kind of ingenious. The code within the cheater diesels was written such that it could tell if it was being tested or not (basically, sensing if the car is on a dyno). If the car was on a dyno, the emissions system worked one way; if you were out driving, you got more power because the emissions system wasn’t working as designed.
The fallout cost the company billions and changed the way regulators test vehicles, as the ICCT pointed out:
The Volkswagen emissions scandal, or “Dieselgate,” revealed systemic issues and had a lasting impact on vehicle regulations across the globe: today, governments in Europe, China, India, South Korea, and the United States conduct real-driving emissions testing to ensure that vehicles meet standards throughout their lifetime, helping protect both public health and the environment. In Europe and the United States, increasingly progressive emission standards are accelerating the transition to electric vehicles .
I remember at the time how many automakers were looking at bringing diesels to market in order to achieve emission goals while also delaying an investment in hybrid or EV technology. All of a sudden, those plans were rolled back. That, plus the rise of Tesla, left automakers scrambling to move past combustion engines towards electric cars.
VW invested billions in electric cars and software. The EV investments haven’t fully borne fruit, though the company is doing better in Europe. The software, though, is a mess.
Dieselgate Is Making Volkswagen’s Rivian Deal That Much Harder
I’ve written before about how much of a ticking time bomb Volkswagen’s software unit, CARIAD, has become for the automaker. The TL/DR version is that Volkswagen assumed it could throw a bunch of engineers at the problem of vehicle software, which was clearly the future of cars, and that by doing so it could develop a single operating system for all its models that would save Volkswagen untold amounts of money.
That didn’t happen, and the guy who took over for Winterkorn after Dieselgate was allegedly shown the door after spending more than $11 billion in this pursuit without much to show for it.
Since then, CEO Oliver Blume has made a big deal out of reforming CARIAD and investing in Rivian to help simplify VWs problems. While the investment hasn’t necessarily resulted in any products yet, I do think it’s a little early to judge whether or not it was successful.
There’s a big cover story on the issue in Manager Magazin this month under the headline “Code Red – new software alarm at Volkswagen.” It’s extremely detailed and goes into all the various troubles, but what stuck out to me was the echo of Dieselgate.
Specifically, VW assumed it would mostly be building electric cars in the future, so developing software for gas-powered models seemed like a waste. That’s not what happened, and now VW might need Rivian to develop software for its gas models as well, but…
But it’s not that simple. It’s not just the technology that’s difficult. Following the diesel scandal, Volkswagen has committed itself to extremely complicated documentation requirements, especially in the US. Every tiny detail in the depths of the code must be precisely described. This makes software development for combustion engines much more complex than for electric cars, where such requirements don’t currently exist. The risk of making mistakes is high – and the consequences could be extremely expensive.
If Rivian does get involved with the combustion engine software, the joint venture probably wouldn’t be ready before 2029, more likely 2030. While there’s already an internal abbreviation for the software: SDV@ICE, it’s not actually in development yet. So, for now, the combustion engine transition remains a codeless undertaking.
The whole drama is revealed by the Audi A8, which is slowly becoming a classic car. The luxury sedan, on the market since 2017, has become a political issue within the company. The A8, even with a combustion engine, was actually not supposed to be offered again; at the beginning of the year, Audi CEO Döllner was certain of this in small circles. However, for the electric version – initially planned for 2024, then for 2026 – he is dependent on Porsche, where, according to company logic, the underlying vehicle architecture is supposed to be developed. However, that probably won’t happen until the 2030s.
The punchline to this story is that Volkswagen might need Cariad just to buy itself some more time.
Nissan ‘Pauses’ The Ariya For 2026
Nissan got to the market early (maybe first) with the Nissan Leaf, but it was Tesla who did it right. The Leaf was just never quite what it needed to be; the company’s second attempt, the Nissan Ariya, had the right form factor, but was still too little, too late.
As Automotive News reports, Nissan isn’t likely to fix it:
Nissan Motor Co. is thinning its U.S. electric lineup in response to slowing sales, President Donald Trump’s import tariffs and the looming expiration of a federal tax incentive for buyers.
According to a memo to dealers obtained by Automotive News, Nissan will pause U.S. market production of its compact Ariya electric crossover for the 2026 model year.
“This decision enables the company to reallocate resources and optimize its EV portfolio as the automotive landscape continues to evolve,” Nissan said in the memo.
The Trump administration’s 15 percent import tariff has hurt the Japanese-made EV’s profitability in the U.S., a person with knowledge of the decision told Automotive News.
Oh well. This is just a “pause,” but I don’t know what factors change in order to bring it back, so I’m just going to assume it’s dead for now.
Škoda Police Wagon!
I am very much on the record in support of police wagons, so it is my duty to report that the Superb SportLine Estate 2.0 TSI 265PS DSG 4×4 has passed the Met Police’s test and will be reporting for its own duty soon.
Škoda continues to strengthen its reputation as the go-to choice for the UK’s emergency services, following approval for the fourth-generation Superb Estate variant. Over the past two decades, Škoda models have become a familiar sight on Britain’s roads, trusted by police, ambulance, and fire crews for their ability to handle demanding conditions with confidence. Demonstrating its commitment to engineering excellence, the fourth-generation Škoda Superb SportLine Estate 2.0 TSI 265PS DSG 4×4 variant has successfully completed the Metropolitan Police’s demanding brake test, securing official approval for operational deployment across the force.
Building on the strong legacy of its predecessor, which served extensively in specialist roles such as motorway patrol and armed response and even formed the basis for a fully armoured variant used in high-security applications, the new Superb brings a refined balance of space, safety, and efficiency to emergency fleets. After undergoing a comprehensive evaluation process, the Škoda Superb SportLine Estate 2.0 TSI 265PS DSG 4×4 variant has now received full approval for operational deployment across the emergency services.
That’s 0-60 mph in under 6 seconds, plus a bunch of space. It’s a winner.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
It’s Tegan And Sara and they’re “Walking With A Ghost,” which seems appropriate today.
The Big Question
Do you remember Dieselgate? How did it make you feel about VW? Can the company ever truly come back from it?
Top graphic image: VW, EPA, depositphotos.com
I remember getting this letter. I’d taken delivery of a new 2015 Golf SportWagen TDI SEL in April of ’15 (which had the gen. 3 diesel engine)…which eventually got bought back. Meanwhile, the dealer was stuck with the 2014 Jetta SportWagen TDI I’d traded in, as they weren’t able to sell any of the TDIs, new or used. I believe that Jetta SportWagen became a customer shuttle for about a year.
FWIW, I’ve eyed Cayenne Diesels for some time, and the Touareg TDI as well. However, I don’t find the Touareg’s interior to be upmarket enough (trounced as it was by the contemporary Grand Cherokee), and I never find Cayenne Diesels with the right equipment.
No mention of Electricdoorhandlegate?
No one has said what the market supply of Ariyas is. Do they have a many-month backlog of cars that they want to clear out first? People are saying the new Leaf will steal sales from it. Maybe. But the Leak is quite a bit smaller in size, even if they look kind of similar in photos.
Oh yeah, and fuck VW.
I bought a 2011 TDI sportwagen and it was a great car…mostly (I had some serious fuel pump related warranty work done) and while I was sad to see it go, I was thrilled to sell it back to VW for what they gave me for it. Given all the compensation and the buyback I got from VW amounted to me owning a 45 mpg car for 5 years for about $1000.
The cash I got put me in a GX470 that I still have and has been a phenomenal car for the 100,000 miles I’ve already put on it and its still going strong.
I do miss the MPGs though, and the manual transmission.
With the Leaf now being a CUV, does it just slot in to where the Ariya was? I totally forgot the Ariya existed when reading all the new Leaf news.
I think the Ariya is much bigger
Like Bags said the Ariya is bigger, closer to a bZ or ID.4 etc. A bit crowded for the number of entries out there.
The Equinox EV was already much cheaper to start and as big/bigger plus more range, and the updated bZ/related models are increasing range and lowering price for 2026 too, so the Ariya would probably be an even tougher sell next year.
Leaf starting under $30k is surely closer to whatever the new Bolt will be priced at, even if that likely ends up cheaper, so a more closely matched comparison.
As someone that appreciate the outdoors and doing activities like running or going for bike rides, I have to hold my breathing for a few seconds everytime I see a diesel truck passing by, that stuff smells awful and triggers my asthma really easy.
What I remember was reading that according to internal documents from VW, to have put a compliant emission system on their diesels would have cost €300($335 at the then exchange rate), and to retrofit a compliant system would cost about €5,000.
If I understand it correctly, the real issue was that the compliant emission system didn’t offer the performance they wanted and would have negatively impacted sales. It wasn’t as compelling a package if it was way slower than the gas version and only slightly more efficient.
Actually, it was about saving money.
€300 x 11,000,000 vehicles with that powertrain worldwide = €3.3 Billion
Sure, I’m just saying that 11 million sales wouldn’t have even happened with a compliant diesel (or VW didn’t think they would).
There’s saving money by leaving out crash structure or something that buyers wouldn’t notice, but using a cheating emissions system made the car demonstrably better than the competitor offerings. If they hadn’t cheated, I don’t think they ever would have convinced anyone that diesel was a good choice vs gas.
Yeah the Ariya is just another entry in the category of “loophole sponges”. Their whole purpose is to soak up those sweet government dollars via the leasing loophole in the EV tax credit.
It was a weird time that is coming to an end.
Oh, right, diesel. CARB killed that in the US far more than VW ever did. As someone with a high speed, highway commute, I mourn that diesel makes no sense in the US all the time. I’ll never buy one here on the East Coast as the emissions controls necessary to reduce smog in California make them horribly unreliable.
Post Dieselgate I felt a mix of indifference and “they got what they deserved” attitude. But lately starting to fell bad for them. I definitely wish they stuck around, at the very least to build me the Scout I’m about to see in person near my office! God I hope they don’t mess the software.
I see a surprising number of Ariyas in my area, which is EV-heavy in general. I don’t think they’re attractive but they certainly are distinct. And per the court order, I’m legally required to tell you I like the Juke whenever I give my opinion on a car’s looks.
Oh, and the first gen Hyabusa.
I saw a Juke on the road recently. Dark base color, maybe a dark grey and there were yellow highlights on many of the creases and inside of the fog light pockets. Sounds terrible but it was executed excellently and I think it looked great in a racing livery type-of-way.
Every time I see a Juke, I remember a line from a C&D article reviewing the thing. It was something along the lines of: looking through the windshield, you peer over the hood to the weird lighting assembly standing proud, looking like big toenail clippings attached to the hood.
I don’t remember who wrote that, but I’m pretty sure it was John Phillips!
I generally think VW’s are polished turds, so the scandal hadn’t changed my opinion of the cars, however it did seem very sleezy to me when compared with all the hippy dippy cheery marketing they did around the New Beetle variants.
I’ve realized that generally speaking, companies will do the shittiest things to make more money if they think they can get away with it, and often even if they don’t. Often times the profit outweighs any potential fine and penalties just become cost of doing business.
I also have zero interest in diesel in anything other than HD trucks and offroad vehicles. I used to work a full serve gas station as a kid, I HATED all the diesel cars that came in because just looking at that oily pump handle would leave me reeking of diesel for the rest of the day.
Dieselgate: I was living in Colorado and a new friend (with a hot rod beetle) talked a lot of shit about hillbillies from WV ruining VW. I reminded him that was my alma mater. I was pretty proud of WVU, and I didn’t give a rip about VW. I later bought and loved a GTI.
Seeing I was 22 at the time during diesel gate still I college and working a full time job and was just getting into working cars at that point. It didn’t really affect my view on VW as I didn’t know much about them at that point. Also as I have stated never been much into diesels in cars but I do like older pre-def/dpf diesel trucks and currently work in the R&D semi-truck manufacturer so kind of have to at least care for bigger diesels as it pays the bills haha.
I remember very little about Dieselgate since my son was born right before the story started hitting the news. VW cheating on emissions wasn’t anywhere close to important enough to take up space in my sleep deprived brain.
I don’t understand police vehicles for North America.
Elsewhere, it seems any old Skoda/VW/Ford/Fiat will do as a police vehicle. From the Italian Carabinieri (National police) driving Fiat Pandas, to UK local police forces with Astras, and Spanish with a Ford Kuga… Why does America feel the need to stick with just two basic vehicles (Explorer/Durango)?
Further, the need to use Harleys rather than having something more agile/clearance/comfortable (or all three if you get one of the adventure touring rigs) as a motorcycle seems oddly archaic.
Only being explorers or Durango’s now more has to do with there being no charger (well until the ICE comes back out) crown vic or Impala any more. And I think there is some clause where they have to be American manufactures too so no choice there anymore for sedans.
I spoke with an officer during their changeover from Crown Vics to the new generation. They each got to choose between the sedan (Taurus/Five Hundred based) and the SUV (Explorer based). The consensus was those that picked the sedan regretted it, as the SUV just had so much more room.
It was assumed going in the sedan would handle better, but in real world usage, that proved not to be the case. They were surprised by how evenly matched they were in that regard.
Makes sense and also makes sense from throwing someone in other back perspectives much easier to have someone get into an exploder or durango and having them not hit their head when cuffed vs a sedan.
The front seat area on a late Taurus was amazingly cramped for a car so big. Massive console.
There are several factors involved with US police vehicles. One is space. Depending on the jurisdiction, one officer may be required to do a lot of stuff and cover a large area. This requires a lot of time in the vehicle and a lot of equipment. Sedans used to be OK for this, and in some areas still are, but the interiors and cargo space of SUVs makes for a much better working environment. Also, especially in rural areas in northern states, four or all wheel drive makes things safer. As for using Harleys? I think that’s just an image thing. Harley Davidson does produce a “Police” model that is ready for equipment installation.
Don’t forget the Tahoe, far more common for police use than the Durango.
I was the car guy in the office at my old job. This great lady was one of my co-workers and she asked my what car to buy, gave me a list of her wants and needs. Fun to drive good on gas was on the list. I did some research and suggested a Golf TDI. She got it. LOVED it. Man, I felt like crap in 2015. But, eventually through the settlement she kind of got a free new car out of it, so there is that.
I was bummed when this happened. Not because VW was cheating, but because the fix would likely make the car less efficient and less reliable (while killing diesels for every other brand). The diesels and the GTI were the only products I liked from VW. Now that the TDIs were gone and the GTI is auto-only, I couldn’t care less about the current brand.
I remember discussing various diesel emissions systems with one of the smartest techs I’ve ever had the privilege to be mentored by.
He stated at that time “I have no idea how VW is doing it, cause no one else can make it work like they do.”
Then two years later, the scandal broke. I immediately thought back to that conversation.
It makes me feel indifferent because it seems that every manufacturer has a massive scandal at some point, and the EPA has made all of it irrelevant in the US anyways.
But unlike V10omous, diesel is near and dear to me. It’ll always have a place in my heart. I’ve probably absorbed enough of it through my skin that it’s literally in places of my heart.
Didn’t like VW or diesel (and the two combined even less) before, so the scandal couldn’t possibly have lowered their reputations any further in my eyes.
This is how I feel about GM after they killed Saab and then hundreds of people with ignitions made from paper.
Whenever the news is glum, Matt can always turn to Soda press releases!
Are you a Coke or Pepsi fan?
Aw crap, *SKODA press releases!
In 2025 you just need to give 20% to the mob (current administration) for protection and you can continue to pollute.
I’m old enough to remember when people lost their minds about Hunter saying “10% for the big guy”.
Just to clarify, Hunter never even said that. He was cc’d on an email between two other people where the writer was proposing an ownership breakdown to the other person (as in, “are you good with us splitting it up this way?”).
He testified under oath that he never even saw the email and it’s public record that the actual ownership breakdown of the company was nothing like the email.
Even better. TBH, the guy sounded like a real shitbag, but at least he wasn’t running for president or any other job in the white house. I’m perfectly fine with people being that kind of screwup as long as they stay out of govt. Although these days, his shitbaggery is too minor to qualify him for govt work.
I’ll admit I enjoyed snipets that I heard of his recent podcast appearance though.
I really liked Biden, and was under the impression that Hunter was just a screwup. But I read the full transcripts of when he appeared in the House and came away feeling he was actually much more competent and thoughtful than I originally thought.
He just did a couple interviews with “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan” on Youtube, and I was really impressed with his views and humanization of addiction. He seems like a really solid dude who did some dumb shit and is trying to make amends.
Again, he’s not trying to get political power so I give him some leeway, but he also seems like someone I would hang with.
Agree, he definitely came off as likeable and intelligent in the clips I heard, which softened my opinion on him. There was one where he was explaining crack, and there’s a clip of Joe Rogan reacting to it saying, “wow, that almost makes me want to try crack now”.
I’d have a beer with him.
Dumb connection to what you’re listening to. Around the time that Teagan and Sara came out I was a customer service rep and I talked to a customer with the last name Schreckengost. Ever since then, in my head the song is “I was schrecken with a gost.”
At my current job we just hired a woman named Teagan, so for the last couple of weeks “I was schrechen with a gost” has been stuck in my head. My brain is weird.
Sounds perfectly normal to me.
Wait a minute…
If VW could’ve just held out another 10 years they would’ve gotten the Freedom Eagle Award for Anti-Wokeness powered by the Home Depot.
I’m not sure. My uncle is one of those MAGA types and he said to tell the krauts to go home. But like most MAGA types, he’s a bunch of contradictions because he drives a Kia.
VW’s corporate predecessors also contributed immensely to the war against antifa.
I remember Dieselgate. I already didn’t like diesels, but that soured me on them permanently. It’s kind of ironic that it happened during our current president’s first term. Because if it happened today, they’d probably be given a medal and a big stack of crypto.
Obama was president, though.
Son of a … for some reason I transposed the 18th into 2018. The last part of my statement still stands, though!
I had a ’10 TDI Golf 2 door, cloth seats, lowered on H&Rs, 1552 Tarmacs, 6MT, the first and only car I’ve ever bought brand new. Loved every minute of it, but the stink of Dieselgate, pushed me to eventually trade it for a ’08 Cayman 5MT.