TTAC Sources: IAV Was Volkswagen's Co-Conspirator in Diesel Scandal
The U.S. federal indictment of Volkswagen engineer James Liang, stemming from the automaker’s effort to cheat on emissions testing of their supposedly “clean” diesel engines, mentions an as-yet unindicted co-conspirator, “Company A”.
That firm allegedly helped Liang and his team at VW develop the software routine that only activated emissions controls when vehicles were being emissions tested. Company A was identified in the indictment as a Berlin-based automotive engineering company that is 50 percent owned by the Volkswagen group, which is also Company A’s biggest customer.
Though there was some early speculation that Robert Bosch GmbH was involved in VW’s diesel scandal, Bosch is almost entirely owned by the charitable Robert Bosch Foundation, so it can’t be Company A.
Our initial research on Company A pointed to IAV, which does a variety of work for a range of automotive firms, including powertrain software development. IAV, headquartered in Berlin, is half owned by VW AG, their biggest customer. However, Volkswagen has ownership interests in a number of companies, so in our initial reporting on Liang’s guilty plea TTAC didn’t speculate on the true identity of Company A. Since that was published, though, TTAC has been contacted by a reliable industry source who tells us that IAV is indeed “Company A”.
IAV is an international company with about 600 million Euros of annual revenue. The criminal charges against Liang were filed in the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, of U.S. District Court, whose jurisdiction includes two IAV facilities.
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Every time I see that picture of the Wolfsburg factory, I'm reminded of the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals. Just needs a pig balloon floating above it. Given VW's recent history, it seems rather fitting, too. They're nearly a laugh but really a cry.
Is there any proof for what is written here?