Volkswagen, while still reeling from the shocking Dieselgate scandal that drew billions in fines and lawsuits, has illegally sold thousands of pre-production test vehicles to unsuspecting buyers in Europe and North America since 2006. According to Der Spiegel, the Wolfsburg-based automaker were secretly selling off these cars (confirmed by a VW spokesman), although other brands in the family weren’t affected.
The vehicles, which were specifically made to showcase new models prior to being manufactured for proper large-scale series production, should have officially been scrapped. Instead, Volkswagen sold them as new or second-hand cars. The bigger problem is that the motor transport authorities never gave the green light for these test models to be sold.
The Drive states that there is a process for doing this legally – VW would have to document exactly how these test cars differed from the final production version and inform both industry regulators and its own dealers about their true provenance. Of course, this was never done.
That’s not all. German publication Handelsblatt reportedly saw internal documents suggesting the real number of cars with “unclear construction status” could be as high as 17,000 units, nearly tripling the 6,700 confirmed cases. In a follow-up report, Der Spiegel also confirmed a much higher number.
CEO Herbert Diess (pictured above) allegedly knew about the situation back in 2016, yet the case remained undisclosed for two years until the company decided to come clean to Germany’s motor transport authority earlier in September. The real risk here, according to The Drive, is that Volkswagen appears to have no documentation on what exactly is wrong with these cars.
A company spokesman told Handelsblatt that some of the models just need a software update to become compliant with the production version, while others are so riddled with differences and flaws that they should be scrapped immediately. Volkswagen says it is not aware of any crashes, injuries, or deaths related to the test cars, and it “deeply regret[s]” the deceit. A recall in Europe has been announced in what’s essentially another buyback plan to take these cars off the road.
German authorities are currently examining whether or not to impose more heavy fines on Volkswagen. Earlier in June, the company was fined one billion euros (RM4.74 billion) for organisational deficiencies that ultimately led to the emissions cheating scandal. It is said the automaker could face a fresh round of lawsuits from aggrieved customers and dealers. Just how deep does the rabbit hole go?
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so the bottom line is don’t buy a vw
and you lost the best of motoring
When I drive a VW, frens and family ask me why I support a “cheating” company???
Best of motoring? Toyota just won 24hr of Le Man’s.. Mercedes just won F1 world title, Toyota just won the WRC…. So VW best of motoring?
Audi pull out from endurance race and VW pull out from WRC because of the diesel scandal, no fund to continue motor racing.. they are buried in the world of motorsport..
yeah ..but audi won formula e and theyre 2nd in DTM. vw did’nt pullout from wrc. Porsche and lambos holds the fastest time on the green hell.They own the fastest bikes and cars on earth ,buggati ducati etc. and they also have racing trucks (Scania ab).So wdym by they burried in the world of motorsports..
I don’t mind VW. As long as good bargain
But but but someone said we should learn from ze Germans how to make cars….
Yeah, where is that dude? So shy to come here and praise his Mat Salleh CEO?
Sale of pre-owned VW cars also common here.
Do you know the difference between pre-production and pre-owned?
As long as it is VW it is a good news for me
Welcome to the world of corporate hubris and greed. This is just another case among countless others in other industries as well.
Agree. Kinda common tampering of audit report before seeing daylight.
Zero protection for the consumers that bought these vehicles. No documentation for what exactly is non conformity on those vehicles.
Worse is no action plan for recall nor compensation.
Imagine spending literally decades building a brand reputation globally to then totally throwing it away through multiple examples of seriously deceiving your own loyal customers. Unbelievable attitude of management.
Habislah VW!
Heavily fine = no money… Which possibly leading to cutting corners on their up coming production cars, possible of charging overpriced maintenance services… sorry, no more VW (or any other brands under it’s umbrella).. Jetta with Torsion beam is an early sign..
So scared, how to know our car not pre-production one?
Dunno , even mass prod passat lost to suprima when cornering fast. Even more pre prod unit.
yeah ..but audi won formula e and theyre 2nd in DTM. vw did’nt pullout from wrc. Porsche and lambos holds the fastest time on the green hell.They own the fastest bikes and cars on earth ,buggati ducati etc. and they also have racing trucks (Scania ab).So wdym by they burried in the world of motorsports..