Take Note, Hollywood: Germany Cancels Prestigious Auto Awards Due to Criminality, Awkwardness

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

The organizers of televised U.S. awards shows, who annually serve up a night of lectures, sermons, hypocrisy, and guilt for an increasingly small audience, should realize that the show doesn’t necessarily have to go on.

It’s certainly not going on in Germany. Axel Springer, a top publishing house for numerous German media sources, including AutoBild, has now wrestled the prestigious Golden Steering Wheel award out of everyone’s hands. There’ll be no thanking of grade school teachers by auto execs this year. Blame, well, the auto industry.

Apparently, there’s so much scandal emanating from an industry rocked by criminal investigations and fines resulting from diesel emissions manipulation, organizers felt is would be too weird to go on with the show. This week’s arrest of Audi CEO Rupert Stadler was likely the final straw.

Stadler (seen above in a happier moment) was arrested in Munich after investigators raided his home and workplace. Accused of fraud, Stadler is being held in custody after a judge ruled the now-former CEO might try to destroy evidence related to Volkswagen Group’s diesel scandal (or bolt) if released.

A cloud of suspicion hangs over other former and current executives. Former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn is the subject of an official probe, as is current CEO Mathias Müller. Punitive fines hit VW earlier this month. Daimler AG was ordered to recall three-quarters of a million vehicles just last week.

The only thing this situation doesn’t have is sex, and thank goodness for that.

“We love cars. The people who build, buy and drive them are our customers as well as our readers,” said Marion Horn, editor-in-chief of Bild am Sonntag, in a Friday statement reported by Bloomberg. “But now is not the time to grant awards and celebrate.”

The first Golden Steering Wheel awards landed in the hands of auto executives in 1978. It’s likely the glitz and glamour will return next year.

[Image: Audi AG]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Jpolicke Jpolicke on Jun 23, 2018

    "The only thing this situation doesn’t have is sex" Throw in a highlights reel of Ferdinand Piech's personal life and you'll have all of that you can handle.

  • Ermel Ermel on Jun 23, 2018

    Springer, best known for their BILD newspaper, is merely yellow press. Huge but shallow, and not above fabricating their own news in much the same way that the ocean is not above the clouds.

  • 3-On-The-Tree I’m sure they are good vehicles but you can’t base that on who is buying them. Land Rovers, Bentley’ are bought by Robin Leaches’s “The Rich and Famous” but they have terrible reliability.
  • SCE to AUX The fix sounds like a bandaid. Kia's not going to address the defective shaft assemblies because it's hard and expensive - not cool.
  • Analoggrotto I am sick and tired of every little Hyundai Kia Genesis flaw being blown out of proportion. Why doesn't TTAC talk about the Tundra iForce Max problems, Toyota V35A engine problems or the Lexus 500H Hybrid problems? Here's why: education. Most of America is illiterate, as are the people who bash Hyundai Kia Genesis. Surveys conducted by credible sources have observed a high concentration of Hyundai Kia Genesis models at elite ivy league universities, you know those places where students earn degrees which earn more than $100K per year? Get with the program TTAC.
  • Analoggrotto NoooooooO!
  • Ted “the model is going to be almost 4 inches longer and 2 inches wider than its predecessor”Size matters. In this case there is 6” too much.
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