EU Threatenes to Sue Countries That Went Easy on VW; Porsche Hit With Fuel Economy Probe

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

European Union officials are threatening to sue four countries, including Germany and Britain, for permitting Volkswagen AG to sell vehicles that were designed to cheat on emissions tests. The union has faced growing criticism for taking a more laissez-faire approach to handling the issue while the United States forced the company to settle $15 billion in legal claims.

Meanwhile, German regulators are looking into whether Porsche intentionally manipulated fuel economy data on its vehicles — creating a potential subplot in Volkswagen’s never-ending emissions-cheating scandal.


Europe may have weaker emission benchmarks than the United States, but the rules forbidding carmakers from installing software intended to deceive regulators and falsify results are similar. However, there is no Environmental Protection Agency equivalent in the E.U. and, therefore, no one to police those regulations. Instead, the issue is entirely left up to the individual countries.

The New York Times reports that the European Commission has managed to band together to accuse four countries of failing to effectively punish Volkswagen Group for installing software that mislead testers and allowed the vehicles to produce unacceptable levels of pollution under practical use. “Abiding by the law is first and foremost the duty of car manufacturers, Elzbieta Bienkowska, the European commissioner for industry, said “But national authorities across the E.U. must ensure that car manufacturers actually comply with the law.”

The Commission has given the four countries — Britain, Germany, Luxembourg, and Spain — two months in which to respond. With automakers seeking out countries with less stringent quality control for union-wide certification, the Commission has faced growing complaints to fix a broken system and exercise its power.

When the European Commission previously asked countries how they enforce emissions rules, 11 of the 28, including Britain, France and Poland, didn’t even bother to reply.

“After months of delays, and years of deception of consumers, this action is overdue,” Bas Eickhout, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement also proves that the commission does indeed have the ability to take action against member states, something they have repeatedly denied in the past.”

Meanwhile, Germany’s Transport Ministry and Federal Motor Transport Authority are investigating whether Porsche knowingly installed the defeat devices that allowed its cars to sense when they were being tested for fuel economy and greenhouse emissions. German magazine WirtschaftsWoche reports that an unidentified people close to Porsche tipped off the Transportation Ministry to the alleged cheating.

A Porsche spokesman has stated that the company’s cars complied with the fuel consumption and emissions laws in place at the time of the vehicles’ registration.

The report specifies that the investigation focuses primarily on the same so-called “wheel identifier” German authorities began looking into last month with Audi. The equipped cars can detect whether they’re on a test bed due to the lack of steering input during operation.

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Motormouth Motormouth on Dec 09, 2016

    VW claims the defeat device didn't break European law. http://europe.autonews.com/article/20161104/ANE/161109925/vw-says-defeat-device-conforms-with-european-law If that's accurate (and the denial puts the onus on the EU to prove it did break the law), going after the individual countries and their slack emissions testing is really the only option left for the EU - probably with the end goal that the individual states pass some level of financial hardship on to VW. That said, punishing the individual member states for this type of transgression makes zero sense remembering that, as noted, VW claim not to have done anything wrong.

  • Kosmo Kosmo on Dec 09, 2016

    The tale grows ever more ridiculous. The ONLY entities that should receive damages from VW are owners of the vehicles. This is just another example of another governmental organization that sees the possibility of free money.

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