Redd

"A deal like your discussing would pretty bankrupt VAG "
Yes, and that option IS very much on the table. Even if no one wants to discuss the elephant on the pool table, so to speak. Treble damages for fraud may just be an "American thing" but, hello, this part falls under US law.

On another hand, this week Blackstone (investment) Group filed for two billion euro's in compensation, saying that is what their shareholders lost in VWG stock values after news of Dieselgate put VWG stock in the toilet.

This is all far from over. A billion here, a billion there...it is not the laughing trivial matter that VWG's brass would have everyone think.

I'm unsure of what an "R&I'd" is, but no one person at VWG will make any decision that binds the future of diesel. There are talks of banning it in parts of the EU. News stories this week (on the BBC I think it was) about how fuel that is "too dirty" to sell in the EU is being dumped on African markets...and of course, Germany giving heavy subsidies to their big three for electric cars, priced for the low to middle market.

With all the push and buzz for electric cars--still a new and distinct technology--it just doesn't make sense for VWG to dilute their resources by trying to reinvent a dying diesel niche market, when the electric open is first starting to grow, and shows major signs of eclipsing it. (Supposedly.)

Personally, I see bigger logistics issues blocking electric. As in, wtf can you charge an electric car in any big city? Five, ten, a thousand, sure, special charging stations. Now what about the other quarter million cars and non-electric parking spaces? Duh?

tmfstyle

I was surprised by the generosity of the buyback settlement on the 2.0 but I would not count my chickens etc. until I got a check. If, in fact, the EU or individual Europen countries demand and are awarded compensation similar to the U.S. agreement, the solvency of VW might be at stake. In that scenario VW could be hard pressed to honor the settlement.

MP4.2+6.0

FWIW, I see it cutting almost the opposite way, but it is all in reading speculative tea leaves. In particular, many larger cities in Germany have Umwelt zones. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-emission_zone#Germany Historically those have required not very stringent emissions standards for the relevant sticker. But, it is likely those could end up requiring essentially electric operation to get into the inner core of a fair number of cities in the reasonably near future. And figure those are not just commodity vehicles, but also CEO type rides with a driver--S's, 7s, X6's and A8's among others. If the boss needs to get to work in the back without being bothered with those everyday hassles like trams, buses and taxis for the ordinary folk..let alone walking...yes you can expect the big German companies will all offer the requisite rides. Jag, Maserati and others for that matter who play in similar markets and with various parallel government programs and pressures from the Greens and others.

Watch in particular for plug in hybrids as the stop gap, which have enough range to get in and out of a town core on electric only. Then in turn if they cater to the home market where so many larger, high profit vehicles are nominally company cars, expect us to see similar ones as trickle downs. The plug in hybrid flavor of the ZF mix and match 8 speed is already found in the Cayenne in the Audi quattro based drivetrain used in that (and the TDI). I expect that to be in the next gen Q5 when they get around to it. But with the Q5 it has really just been a low volume learning experiment, so they will need to get a lot more serious. The TDI mess that blew up under their collective executive butts may speed that along--both the offering as well as more emphasis on real volumes.

Redd

Plug-in hybrids, meaning, they'll run on "gas" from a station, when you can't plug them in?
I still see them as *its on a bull, so to speak. As a New Yorker, I would say that plugging a car into a charging port, even in the outer boroughs, is basically not possible UNLESS you are in a private home with a private garage and you can install your own charging station in it. Same thing in Boston, or Chicagoland, or DC, or Newark...all the major cities have the same problem, there's no way to get power securely installed unless you do a major infrastructure project (invest a billion dollars when global warming is flooding your streets and subways? and the bridges are collapsing anyway?) in order to replace all the street light power lines and run charging outlets into the parking meters. Which will create parking wars on their own.
Supposedly Tesla is built so that the battery pack can be swapped out in five minutes or less, but that hasn't been implemented because no one has figured out how to do the accounting, i.e. if my battery has been used 50x and the swap-in has been used 500x, I've just lost money, getting old goods for new. Among other problems.
When and if self-driving car fleets can replace our existing cars, we can see major changes, as those cars can be maintained as a fleet, off street. But whether that concept is going to work out...What was the line in Jaws? "We're gonna need a bigger crystal ball!"

Comfy

Does anyone believe that he was paid off by VW to own up (sacrificed) so that all the "others" in the corporate lineup are saved.

SJGQ5

looks like our (3.0 crowd) date is Nov 3

VW and U.S. regulators are in separate intense discussions over whether the automaker should agree to buy back 85,000 larger 3.0-liter Porsche, Audi and VW vehicles that also exceeded U.S. emission standards, and whether it should offer additional compensation to those owners. Breyer set a Nov. 3 hearing on the issue.

U.S. judge signals likely approval of VW diesel buyback settlement | Reuters

rbradleysd

Fingers crossed for a buy-back. I'll be pissed if there isn't some kind of closure at that meeting

canon_mutant

I suspect just another date for a date but . . . oh well!

I still think the 3.0 is easily fixable without noticeable compromise but, if they do buy back our Q5, I am VERY likely going to just go buy a LandRover Sport TDI. In addition to the big city infrastructure problems already mentioned with anything electric, it is quite simply the perfect power plant for these type vehicles especially for those of us that live out here in the sticks, so to speak.

DennisMitchell

Here is the Oct 18th court transcript: http://www.cand.uscourts.gov/filelib...Transcript.pdf