You Won't Find Volkswagen's CEO Anywhere Near the Detroit Auto Show
Volkswagen’s chief executive officer, Matthias Müller, will be taking a pass on the North American International Auto Show this year. VW still needs to settle things with the U.S. Department of Justice, and is desperate to reach a criminal settlement before the Obama administration is replaced by Trump.
Of course, there is also the matter of public embarrassment. At the 2016 NAIAS Müller took some serious heat for telling National Public Radio that Volkswagen did not lie when initially questioned about its emission-cheating diesel vehicles. The CEO may indeed be busy overseeing the criminal settlement with the DOJ, but there has to be a little leftover humiliation from last year’s awkwardness.
“There will be no separate event of the VW group [in Detroit] and in view of this fact, the group’s executive board will not attend the show,” a spokesman from Volkswagen’s headquarters explained to Reuters.
The company is fearful that its plans in the United States could be postponed by over six months if it fails to reach a deal with the outgoing administration. The choice to keep Müller and the rest of VW’s executive board away from this year’s NAIAS may seem like the company is playing it overly safe but, with things coming down to the wire, its not entirely unexpected.
The Obama administration packs up its last belongings and ships out on January 20th.
[Image: Volkswagen Group]
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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Especially since this engineer plead guilty. http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/vw-engineer-pleads-guilty-roll-emissions-cheating Wonder what he might have provided that relates to Board members?
The smartest thing the VW CEO could do is to announce some job creation. Anything would go a long way in improving VW's US reputation while creating positive favor with our new pro-jobs pro-American worker Administration. Earlier today Black & Decker announced they're building a new factory in the USA. Thank you President Trump!
"The Obama administration packs up its last belongings and ships out on January 20th." Was there something else important in this article? Sorry, couldn't resist.
This whole diesel scandal is disgusting. It isn't the one percent who buy these cars. It's the folks who work hard and then get the camshaft from VW. My hopes: 1. This guy is severely penalized financially; 2. Audi gets creamed by the new administration for building a plant in Mexico; 3. VW leaves the U.S. market and their southern plant starts making Audi's instead of making them in Mexico.