Swiss Officials Issue Temporary Volkswagen Diesel Sales Ban

Linking to an opinion piece only proves that there is one other person who shares your opinion. It does not provide your position with any authority.

@Pch101 Dismissing a common opinion without challenging any of the arguments presented for said opinion does not provide your position with any authority.

@CJinSD You need to work on your reading skills.

@Pch101 A bunch of diesel engineers probably agree, which is not going well for their employer Volkswagen.

@Pch101 Wow I didn't know I applied to be a position of authority by sharing a link. The interviewee however did carry some weight, even if he is wrong.

@28-Cars-Later He's entitled to his opinion. You're entitled to your opinion. But finding someone else who shares your opinion does not prove anything other than the fact that one other person shares your opinion.

I guess this is the opportunity to try some "people who think auto emissions regs are akin to religious fanatics" hyperbole? No, it isn't, 28, and you're being pretty silly. Emissions regs are there for a reason and cars need to abide by the regs.

@FreedMike ...and such regulations need to be reasonable and not the work of zealots of either stripe. Things now seem to be working reasonable well when things are in compliance I say why not let it go for another decade? Nah doesn't fit in with the master plan. This Earth worship thing is a real phenomenon and its dangerous just as nutty things such as the inquisition were dangerous to the people of it's time.

Here, let me quote The Guardian for you: "The move affects roughly 180,000 cars that are yet to be sold or registered, including 1.2-litre, 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre diesel engines for the VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda brands." How about the BBC article from whence this post was taken: "It said the move could affect 180,000 cars - not yet sold or registered - in the Euro5 emission category." Not yet sold OR registered. Meaning some of those vehicles have already left the lot, but have yet to hit the registrar. But you needn't worry about me being back for long, Herr. I'm only here when Mark and Aaron need me to take care of business when they can't, such as this weekend. You'll have your precious Aaron back Monday.

*shakes my head*

That factoid came straight from the BBC and other media outlets are reporting the same thing. Note the second paragraph: "The temporary move comes amid a deepening scandal over VW’s rigging of diesel car emissions tests and could affect 180,000 cars not yet sold or registered in Switzerland. The ban does not apply to vehicles already on the road or cars with Euro6 emission category engines." http://www.euronews.com/2015/09/26/switzerland-bans-sale-of-many-vw-diesel-models-amid-emissions-scandal/ I doubt that the figure is correct, but that is what made it into the news media.

Oh, and Herr, let's add one more from the horse's mouth to Al Jazeera: "Switzerland has banned sales of Volkswagen Group car models which may have been outfitted with devices designed to tricking emission tests. "The ban - announced on Friday - is on all cars with diesel engines in the Euro 5 emissions category, including VW, Seat, Skoda and other brands in the VW group. "Thomas Rohrbach, spokesman for the Swiss federal office of roadways, said the move could potentially affect 180,000 vehicles that have 1.2-litre, 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre diesel engines. "But the ban does not include the cars that are already in circulation." If you can write and research better than I, then bring it.

@Cameron Aubernon Glad to see you back, Cameron!

@VoGo Thank you. :)

@Cameron Aubernon “But the ban does not include the cars that are already in circulation.” Sense out of a government entity? Shocking. Makes me want to visit Zurich.

So, for starters, do you know what it's like to write for internet viewership? I'll give you a run down. - Reader expects article right away/100-percent correct with not a single syntactical or grammatical error. - Writer puts together post in 20 minutes hoping to meet needs of reader. - Reader chastises writer for "error". - Writer acknowledges small error (maybe misplaced comma) in article. - Reader feels superior to writer. Except, in this case, Cameron was completely correct. She even cites different sources using the same number. Where is your source, HerrLaKeun? Because if you can't find a source to support your "correction", I am guessing you should find an apology instead. Mark

@Mark Stevenson Just because lots of other media are misreporting a factoid doesn't make something accurate. The entire Swiss market is about 20,000 cars per month, of which VW's share is about 2,000 per month. I don't need to know much about the industry to know VW doesn't have 90 months of inventory sitting in Switzerland car lots, even if lots of media outlets claim they do.

@Kevin Jaeger While the 180,000 number is surely incorrect, there's no need to be rude or abusive to a writer for making a mistake like that.

@Mark Stevenson There is something wrong here, though. It would be good to fact check it, as it doesn't pass a sanity check. In this case, the WSJ seems to have gotten it right, as this makes a lot more sense: "The Swiss estimate that around 180,000 Volkswagen group vehicles already on its roads could contain the software which reduces pollution levels during testing. The cars have 1.2-liter, 1.6-liter and 2.0-liter diesel engines and have met the EURO5 emissions standard. "These cars, which were built between 2009 and 2014, could be subject to a recall if they are found to contain the manipulation software, Mr. Rohrbach said." https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/TDJNDN_20150926621/switzerland-considers-banning-volkswagen-diesel-car-sales.html I would presume that most news outlets got their information from a wire story that got it wrong, then relayed it without fact checking. I realize that everyone is a hurry, but bad information is just that, and a car blog would have more insight than the regular media to know that something doesn't sound quite right.

@Pch101 This is why I'm happy someone else does this now. The way I wrote (and write now) these news summaries is, well, by summarizing the most detailed item I could find at that moment. I could dig further to confirm, but I also have three, four, perhaps more, summaries to go through, plus finding the proper images to use without worrying if TTAC or I would be sued. Thus, for me, summaries are treated as soldiers in a triage unit. What set me off, however, was this part of Herr's comment: "Does Cameron being back mean we get this half-researched articles again? TTAC quality had improved after Aarons arrived. Please keep the higher level of journalism that came with Aaron." If you wish to correct me (especially if you can provide the sources of said correct information), fine, but don't be a fucking asshole about it, lest threads like this occur. Again, I am happy Aaron reports the news now, as it allows me to explore opportunities elsewhere (and not only in publications like TTAC, but businesses, too; P.S., I am available), and to redirect my energy toward feature writing -- storytelling, which I believe I do best -- instead. Anyway, Aaron will be back on Monday, and all will be well once more.

@Cameron Aubernon I agree there's no excuse for the rudeness. I just scanned the German media and I assume the error originated in a mistranslation of their reporting. But their reporting is confusing. The Swiss have banned new registrations of the older VW group Euro5 cars, of which there are 180,000 in Switzerland. The new cars are Euro6 and not affected. I don't know the Swiss rules well enough to know what qualifies as a "New Registration" of cars that were only produced until 2014. The existing 180,000 cars are already registered and not affected - maybe they can be driven but not sold? I've read several articles and can't really figure out who is actually affected by this Swiss measure. As written they appear to have suspended new registrations of the older Euro5 cars, whoever that applies to.

@Cameron Aubernon If all of the Euro 5 VAG vehicles in Switzerland are recalled, then that would involve 180k units. But for now, there is no such recall; there is only a stop-sale order on new inventory.

@Cameron Aubernon Cameron, Always good to see your byline on an article. I mentioned the dubious numbers first, but it was obvious to me that it came from the BBC article (and I did follow the link to confirm). Perhaps the people who feel like being rude should complain to the BBC?

@Mark Stevenson No one expects 100% fact-checking and 100% correct numbers. If you report within reasonable margin of error, that is fine. But the number cited is totally incorrect and could have been found incorrect by doing some sanity-check. As stated below, the monthly Swiss market is 20,000 cars, so the 180,000 is not sane. copy/paste is fine for standard news outlets. But we hold TTAC to a higher standard. At minimum some googling could have yielded that the number other news outlets reported is wrong. As for sources, try http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/volkswagen-staaten-weltweit-pruefen-und-ermitteln-im-abgas-skandal-a-1054896.html It states clearly 180,000 cars already on Swiss streets are affected. This isn't personal, but in the past before her departure I avoided her articles since my expectations just were so low. Now i was unprepared and accidentally read her article and thought "wow, who wrote this completely wrong story?". I'll be smarter now and will check who the author is before i click on the link. you can ban me, or censor this comment... but the quality of articles really had increased since Cameron left. This is my personal opinion, and no one needs to share it. Maybe personal preference, maybe subjective... In my opinion (that no one needs to share) most of her articles are not well researched. Very unlike the rest of TTAC. I can get copy/paste everywhere on the internet. Fine, copy/paste may have to suffice when you live int he US and report about Switzerland. But at least do some sanity check. And no, I couldn't write better articles. But this is also not my profession and i don't claim to be a journalist or writer.