German industry

[zack1234]

Volkswagen...

I said last week German industry was a joke.

Its North Koreas fault

[PJ_Godzilla]

Do tell. We're laughing, a bit over here in Ford Corporate.

My gosh, this little honesty and integrity thing seems to have come around and taken a nice semi-circular chunk out of their ample teutonic backsides.

That said, Toyota, Honda... yawn... unafraid. But the Koreans and VW AG? Present in every one of our markets and with a strong effort. Of course, the VW people do all their development centrally and only do the mfg engineering out in the bush.

Still, these cabbage crates always get my notice. I keep pushing our functional engineers, just as an example: "look at that Jetta's NVH dashpad. It's made of blown fiber and is as cheap as dirt. Yours is a two piece rubber and pressed foam work of art. Cheapen it up, for God's sake. You're eating into my bonus, you foolish boy scout."

[Scherf]

I was shaking my head when I heard this one. Seriously, talk about criminality - wt actual f were they thinking?

[zack1234]

Two world wars and now this

[ghi]

They stick their hands deep in corporates accounts to delay and patch this sinking ship. http://www.usdebtclock.org/

[rogwar]

wt actual f were they thinking?

They were thinking nobody else would be smart enough to catch them in the act. Lawyers are going to make a lot of money.

[PJ_Godzilla]

Two world wars and now this

Yes, yes, Zack. Still, you mustn't be bitter. After all, were it not for German direct investment, old blighty would be in some dire straits indeed, never mind the Raj and the Chinese.

What's left? Well, you could go back to an industrial policy, vote UKIP, and start mining coal again.

Of course, the thing still rankles. Next thing you know, they'll be foisting off their Ritter Sport like it were Cadbury... and never mind the wooden sense of humor. God, I've heard more clever jokes out of my dog's backside.

[MiloMorai]

Has it directly killed anybody yet unlike the GM ignition switch?

[PJ_Godzilla]

Has it directly killed anybody yet unlike the GM ignition switch?

No. I guess that makes it okay.   

OTOH, after this 7.3B steel eel, there may be a couple of deaths, or at least a call for a good old-fashioned hangin' or two.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/22/news/vw-recall-diesel/

As for me, I cannot speak publicly for my company... but, if this impacts VW share a bit, bonus time will be like...   

[Ripsnort]

It was inevitable that SOMEONE was going to go down at the hands of the EPA after all the negative press as of late in Colorado.

[zack1234]

Yes, yes, Zack. Still, you mustn't be bitter. After all, were it not for German direct investment, old blighty would be in some dire straits indeed, never mind the Raj and the Chinese.

What's left? Well, you could go back to an industrial policy, vote UKIP, and start mining coal again.

Of course, the thing still rankles. Next thing you know, they'll be foisting off their Ritter Sport like it were Cadbury... and never mind the wooden sense of humor. God, I've heard more clever jokes out of my dog's backside.

it was not German invest, it being told  by te IMF to spread the yanky dollor around the EU.

Germany makes things
Britain has the City of London and provides cheap labor.
The rest of the EU countries sponge of the IMF.
The Eastern European countries grow turnips and blame everyone eles.

[jeep00]

Has it directly killed anybody yet unlike the GM ignition switch?

No, but it will surely become much bigger news in order to help bury that one. They were doing this for a while, same as GM was aware of their problem for a long time. I have heard much much more talk of stock prices over this than the GM issue though. And the more talk, the more they can affect it.
And no, it doesn't make it okay. These are hard set numbers, not towing capacity.

[FLOOB]

Their cars pass the EPA's tests, but the EPA says that's not good enough. The problem here is that the EPA doesn't build tests as well as VW builds cars. At the risk of leaning on my american militarisms to hard, it sound's like the EPA needs to work on their statement of the tasks, conditions, and standards.

[Ripsnort]

Their cars pass the EPA's tests, but the EPA says that's not good enough. The problem here is that the EPA doesn't build tests as well as VW builds cars. At the risk of leaning on my american militarisms to hard, it sound's like the EPA needs to work on their statement of the tasks, conditions, and standards.

That's an understatement.

The EPA needs to be de-cleated to about 50% of its workforce. Do what American companies are doing which is "Do more with less" (That's the new motto)

Currently in the USA, there are 2 federal/state jobs to 1 manufacturing job. It's why we're quickly becoming a "service industry" country where minimum wage is king.

[PJ_Godzilla]

That's an understatement.

The EPA needs to be de-cleated to about 50% of its workforce. Do what American companies are doing which is "Do more with less" (That's the new motto)

Currently in the USA, there are 2 federal/state jobs to 1 manufacturing job. It's why we're quickly becoming a "service industry" country where minimum wage is king.

I agree, Rip. However, as both I (sarcastically) and Jeep noted, noncompliance is a serious issue -whether anyone dies or not. It is also a separate issue to the one you cite, for FMVSS and emissions regs exist whether the US is heavy on the public employment side or not.

Speaking as an industry insider, do I think we're over regulated? Absolutely. But, again, that's a separate issue from whether or not non compliance is okay.