The VW scandal as seen from an American dealer's point of view

The World
Emich Volkswagen is a family owned Volkswagen dealership in Denver, Colorado.

"On behalf of our company, my colleagues in Germany and me personally, I would like to offer a sincere apology for Volkswagen's use of a software program that served to defeat the regular emissions testing regime,'' Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn told a House subcommittee.

Fred Emich says he too has been apologizing to his customers. He runs a Volkswagen dealership in Denver.

“Obviously we had no knowledge of this, but you know we're here to support our customers and stand behind Volkswagen in a partnership and we know in the long term they're just trying to figure out exactly what the fix is going to be. But they will take care of the customers and we know that’s their number one priority," he says.

But for American customers who bought VW diesel models that claimed to be fuel efficient, powerful and green, apologies and CEO resignations may not be enough. Emich agrees.

“Apologies certainly aren't enough," he says. "They’ve already started with some funds, both for the dealership and they're working on how they go about it with the customers. There's currently a $2000 owner loyalty program where if someone wants to trade out of one of these cars they can and they receive a $2000 rebate to do so. So they are starting to work with Germany on not only the fixes but how they can properly compensate people for buying these cars that were misrepresented.”

So would you be satisfied with a $2000 rebate to trade in your diesel VW with its deliberately installed software that’s been blamed for cheating emissions tests?  

“At this point I don’t know if I can answer that question, because I’m not a customer who bought one of these,” says Emich. "But I would say that the general feedback is no.”

Some customers are filing class action lawsuits, others wish to be reimbursed for the original price they paid for the car, others may be satisfied with the trade-in value that was listed before news of the VW scandal broke. And some may be willing to go for the $2000 rebate program to trade the vehicle in for a newer VW model.

Horn told a House subcommittee that he had learned in early 2014 that VW’s supposedly environmentally friendly diesel cars failed tests. But he said he did not know until September that "defeat devices" had been installed deliberately in the vehicles to help them cheat US pollution tests. It’s now estimated that 11 million diesel VWs and Audis have hidden software that switches the engine to produce lower emissions during tests.

That software device then switches off pollution controls when the car is back on the road. Out of view of the inspectors, the car engines spew out harmful levels of toxic gases.

Emich says he had absolutely no idea that he was selling diesel VWs that had this trick software installed. “In model year 2009, really in 2008, when that vehicle came out, it was touted as clean diesel technology, that was drastically different," he adds. "The emissions had changed the 2006 model year, it had a very expensive particulate filter and advanced exhaust systems that we were told was cleaner than a gas car, and it was marketed as a clean diesel. It was ‘green car of the year,' so we thought it was everything that it was said to be.”

Emich, one of America’s leading VW dealers, the only one in Denver, says he first heard about the scandal on September 18 in a letter from VW America CEO Michael Horn, just minutes before the rest of the world learned of the massive automotive scandal. And he remains optimistic that Volkswagen can survive all of this by doing the right thing.

“I do think they will recover. ... They have someone [Volkswagen's new chief Matthias Mueller] who they think will right the ship and correct this. So they have a lot of work to do and we'll see what happens.” 

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