The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL) and research organisation Frost and Sullivan have both commented on the 994 Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, which has resulted in the resignation of CEO Martin Winterkorn.
The world's biggest carmaker by sales has admitted to US regulators that it programmed its cars to detect when they were being tested and altered the running of their diesel engines to conceal their true emissions.
Winterkorn said, “I am shocked by the events of the past few days. Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group. As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the Supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group. I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrong doing on my part.”
Tim Barlow, principal consultant at TRL says the Volkswagen emission scandal has put the spotlight on vehicle emission testing not just in the US, but globally. “The full extent of the problem is not yet known, but if similar practices are taking place in the UK, then this could well have contributed to the current air quality problem we’re facing.
"NOx emissions should not be taken lightly. Aside from helping to form smog, they also have a serious health effects; including contributing to the development of respiratory and lung diseases and cancer. So we need to ensure that all steps are taken to reduce emissions where possible and meet stringent targets.
"What the issue has done is to bring to the forefront the need for changes to existing test procedures. Current testing methods are outdated and offer room for error or optimisation, so it’s imperative that industry, governments and regulatory bodies work together to find the best way forward.”
Barlow says TRL will be actively engaging to ensure that an independent, evidence based perspective is a core part of any decisions made to encourage change. “If we are able to agree and adopt a unified solution to the problem, then we could see an improvement in air quality, both in the US and Europe."
Commenting on the affair,2097 Frost & Sullivan principal consultant, Martyn Briggs said “a missing global standard with regard to emissions testing is half of the issue here”. He claimed the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal is unprecedented, owing to the apparent deceit involved to ‘cheat’ the emissions testing.
He believes that CEO Martin Winterkorn having to step down is not the right answer, because the market could potentially rather gauge the result of this on his response, rather than on the fact that it happened in the first place.
Briggs claims that potentially the biggest damage this revelation might have, certainly in the US market, where people are buying the vehicles based on the environmental credentials, is the consumers’ trust in the VW brand and diesel models in general from all companies. If these environmental credentials turn out to not be the case and the consumer realises he has been deceived, this might cause an issue, as those customers will then not go and buy another VW brand vehicle, and expect to be compensated somehow. However, the focus will rather have to be on the scale: is this only a US problem? It was reported that half a million vehicles could be affected; now this number has increased to 11 million vehicles. If it is a US response, it is going to be very different versus a global response.
Briggs goes on, “Undoubtedly the whole affair is going to have impacts and repercussions far beyond just VW. We are already seeing people in South Korea, France, the UK, starting to question the emissions testing standards. And this is half of the issue here. There is no global standard regarding emissions testing: the fact that it can be different up to 2.5 times as many NOx pollutants that can be allowed in Europe and in UK versus the U.S. and then further differences on CO2 emissions make it tougher for global vehicle manufacturers to comply. That doesn’t make it acceptable, but does explain part of the problem the manufacturers are facing.”
The world's biggest carmaker by sales has admitted to US regulators that it programmed its cars to detect when they were being tested and altered the running of their diesel engines to conceal their true emissions.
Winterkorn said, “I am shocked by the events of the past few days. Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group. As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the Supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group. I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrong doing on my part.”
Tim Barlow, principal consultant at TRL says the Volkswagen emission scandal has put the spotlight on vehicle emission testing not just in the US, but globally. “The full extent of the problem is not yet known, but if similar practices are taking place in the UK, then this could well have contributed to the current air quality problem we’re facing.
"NOx emissions should not be taken lightly. Aside from helping to form smog, they also have a serious health effects; including contributing to the development of respiratory and lung diseases and cancer. So we need to ensure that all steps are taken to reduce emissions where possible and meet stringent targets.
"What the issue has done is to bring to the forefront the need for changes to existing test procedures. Current testing methods are outdated and offer room for error or optimisation, so it’s imperative that industry, governments and regulatory bodies work together to find the best way forward.”
Barlow says TRL will be actively engaging to ensure that an independent, evidence based perspective is a core part of any decisions made to encourage change. “If we are able to agree and adopt a unified solution to the problem, then we could see an improvement in air quality, both in the US and Europe."
Commenting on the affair,
He believes that CEO Martin Winterkorn having to step down is not the right answer, because the market could potentially rather gauge the result of this on his response, rather than on the fact that it happened in the first place.
Briggs claims that potentially the biggest damage this revelation might have, certainly in the US market, where people are buying the vehicles based on the environmental credentials, is the consumers’ trust in the VW brand and diesel models in general from all companies. If these environmental credentials turn out to not be the case and the consumer realises he has been deceived, this might cause an issue, as those customers will then not go and buy another VW brand vehicle, and expect to be compensated somehow. However, the focus will rather have to be on the scale: is this only a US problem? It was reported that half a million vehicles could be affected; now this number has increased to 11 million vehicles. If it is a US response, it is going to be very different versus a global response.
Briggs goes on, “Undoubtedly the whole affair is going to have impacts and repercussions far beyond just VW. We are already seeing people in South Korea, France, the UK, starting to question the emissions testing standards. And this is half of the issue here. There is no global standard regarding emissions testing: the fact that it can be different up to 2.5 times as many NOx pollutants that can be allowed in Europe and in UK versus the U.S. and then further differences on CO2 emissions make it tougher for global vehicle manufacturers to comply. That doesn’t make it acceptable, but does explain part of the problem the manufacturers are facing.”
