6 rude car scandals

1. VW: The avoidable diesel disaster

Criminal lawsuits and compensation payments for manipulated exhaust gas values ​​are still a burden for the automotive industry: the diesel scandal remains raging. Not only, but above all in the VW Group. If executives like VW boss Martin Winterkorn (73, pictured left) who resigned in 2015 or Audi boss Rupert Stadler (58, right) who was arrested in 2018 had not immediately cooperated with authorities and always confessed exactly what had happened. If the damage to diesel and the image of these brands had not been so great, it could already be denied that it is no longer allowed. Even a convincing apology at first could do wonders – see Mercedes deer test scandal (below).

2. DeLorean: Exploding a dream with cocaine

Everyone knows the stainless steel gull wing from the movie “Back to the Future.” Former car executive John DeLorean (1925-2005) fulfilled his childhood dream. The British government lured Ami to Northern Ireland with money to build the car there. But when it started in 1981, no one bought the underpowered (132 hp) and crappy DMC-12. A cash-strapped DeLorean seeks investors when FBI agents offer him a cocaine deal. Although DeLorean is later acquitted – but the point is to hammer a nail into the bankrupt coffin. In 1982, the dream ended.

3. Opel: The man who betrayed his brand

Before José Ignacio López (now 80) Opel was VW’s arch rival. General Motors (GM) sent López to Opel in 1987, when sales stagnated for the first time due to the sluggish economy. López saves until his brand-new Kadett successor, the Astra, rusts out and ruins his reputation. Then VW suddenly hires him. López takes Opel’s secret plans for new models with him to VW (here, he is soon referred to as the “stranger from Wolfsburg” for saving the world and slows down). VW was then forced to pay US$100 million in damages and purchase 1 billion GM parts – López escaped with a DM 400,000 fine. Opel is still experiencing the image crisis of that period. And since then the savings in the auto industry have been called the “López effect.”

4. Mercedes: Star on the brink

This is how you overcome crises! In 1997 – 25 years ago – the Mercedes A-Class was an innovative feeling. And it rolls over in the deer test, a evasive maneuver by Swedish car reporters. Mercedes only stayed on the wall for a very short time, then quickly thought of its own good reputation: You convincingly apologized, even self-ironed with the plush deer that was unthinkable in Mercedes before, and spent millions on all the A-classes you invented. , but still to power the expensive anti-slip ESP. This will soon force other compact cars like the VW Golf to strengthen. So at the end of the scandal, what remains in the back of your mind is that the star takes security seriously. Perfectly solved!

5. Ford: Dead of fire is cheaper for us

Only reality can invent such incredible complacency: Ford foresaw that the 1970 Pinto would be a death trap: even relatively minor rear-end collisions would blow the tank off – and the doors would jam! But in “Pinto Memo” Ford calculates: 180 burned people cost us 50 million, but changes to the car cost 120 million US dollars. Pinto did not change, and at least 60 people died in it. Only convictions for unexpectedly high compensation payments encourage Ford to make changes to the “barbecue for four” (alias). To this day, this scandal serves as a negative example in college business ethics courses. learning effect? Zero: After the 1990 Explorer tires explode and roll over, Ford and Firestone fight 200 deaths over who is to blame before replacing millions of tires.

6. Chevrolet: Unsafe at any speed

To date, there has been a debate as to whether Chevrolet took the engineers’ warnings seriously enough, or whether consumer advocate Ralph Nader (88) exceeded the mark. In his book Unsafe at Any Speed, Nader accused the rear-engined 1959 Chevrolet Corvair of being prone to too sudden rear deflection. As with pretty much all rear-engined cars—but this book and arrogantly beating Chevrolet main GM soon kills Corvair sales: Despite chassis changes in its fourth year, the Corvair expires in 1969.