Free Republic

German car sales enjoyed a strong surge in September, official data showed Wednesday, although the rise was largely attributable to a statistical effect that had weighed on registrations in late 2018. Last month, a total 244,622 vehicles hit the roads, 22.2 percent more than in September 2018, the KBA transport authority said in a statement. Growth has been more modest over the year to date, adding 2.5 percent to reach 2.74 million vehicles between January and September. Over that period, “a higher figure was last achieved in the year 2009,” the VDA industry federation commented in a statement. The German...

Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt was imprisoned for 7 years in the US for his role in the diesel emissions scandal. But his lawyer says the sentence is unfair and that he was only acting on management orders. Alexander Sättele, defense attorney for imprisoned Volkswagen manager Oliver Schmidt, said his client was following instructions from VW’s management in the Dieselgate scandal. In an exclusive interview, Mr. Sättele told Handelsblatt that Mr. Schmidt has become a symbolic figure in criminal investigations into the scandal and was forced to take responsibility for actions beyond his control.

Only six months into his job, the US Justice Department-appointed monitor had some frank words for Volkswagen. “There was a corrupt corporate culture at Volkswagen,” Larry Thompson told Handelsblatt during his first interview since he started his work at VW’s headquarters in June. “It was not a culture marked by honesty and openness. The executives responsible for the affair obviously were not concerned that they would be putting their company in a precarious position.” Mr. Thompson, the former US deputy attorney general under president George W. Bush, has been tasked with preventing any future transgressions at Volkswagen, where the monitor...

EU anti-trust regulators have raided the offices of automaker BMW in Munich, the company said, in a fresh blow to the German car industry already hit by the Dieselgate scandal. The European Commission, which refused to confirm the company targeted, said it “can confirm that as of October 16, 2017, its officials carried out an unannounced inspection at the premises of a car manufacturer in Germany.” The inspection was related to “concerns that several German car manufacturers may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices,” a statement said. The commission added that Daimler was cooperating...

Dieselgate-style fraudsters should face tough punishments, including prison sentences, for cheating air pollution rules, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme said today (20 December). Erik Solheim told reporters in Brussels, “Deliberate cheating needs punishment”. “You need to come down hard economically on companies,” Solheim said, adding there needs to be a “personal” consequence for such scams. Asked if that should include custodial sentences, Solheim said, “We need to speak up for those companies that do well and shame those who do not perform and, in the very worst cases, sentence or punish.” …