Volkswagen was embroiled in an emissions scandal when it was revealed in September 2015 that the company had installed "defeat devices" in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide to cheat emissions tests. This caused Volkswagen's stock and brand perception to plummet, led to billions in fines and recalls costs, and sparked government investigations and lawsuits. The document provides details on Volkswagen's history and the timeline of events in the scandal, as well as the major financial and reputational impacts on the company and the responses from governments, the media, and consumers.

1. VOLKSWAGEN’S DIESELGATE:
A CASE STUDY OF THE
AUTOMAKER’S ONGOING
EMISSIONS CRISIS
The 2016 Arthur W. Page Society
Case Study Competition in Corporate Communication

2. 2
ABSTRACT
Volkswagen (VW), an iconic and beloved automaker, has found itself in the middle of a
disastrous communications and business crisis with the news that they deliberately
cheated on and falsified emissions tests on a large number of their vehicles over the past
several years. Since the mid-September revelations by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the company has undergone a shakeup among its executives, a drop in
stock and resale values, government investigations, and a serious blow to their reputation
as a trustworthy and environmentally responsible carmaker.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. CASE STUDY
1. Case Overview 4
2. Company History 4-6
3. Crisis Timeline 6-7
4. Impact on the Organization’s Financial Business Performance 7-8
5. Public Responses
Government Response 9
Media Response 9-10
Consumer Response 10-11
6. Volkswagen’s Response to the Scandal 11-12
7. Conclusion 13
II. REFERENCES 14-21

4. 4
CASE OVERVIEW
In recent months, Volkswagen has found itself embroiled in a serious crisis that has
had enormous ramifications for their reputation and business interests. On September 18,
2015, news broke that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had determined
that Volkswagen had installed a “defeat device,” used to cheat on emissions tests, in 11
million vehicles.The use of the defeat device directly violates the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Of primary concern are emissions of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), gases that produce
smog in the environment and contribute to respiratory problems such as asthma
(“Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Control Regulations”; Davies, 2015). Diesel, despite producing
less carbon dioxide than gasoline, is known to emit more nitrous oxides and other
pollutants (Bender, 2015; Bigelow, 2015). The diesel engines of recent history have been
promoted as being cleaner than their predecessors, and they are appealing for their greater
fuel economy (Bigelow, 2015). Volkswagen in particular touted its “clean diesel”
offerings (Glinton, 2015). Lawrence, Elgin, and Silver (2015) refer to the company’s
promotional efforts as “publicity worthy of Barnum” (para. 22). According to the recent
revelations, the approximately 482,000 U.S. vehicles equipped with the cheating software
emit between 10 and 40 times the allowed amount of NOx(Duffer, 2015). Further
compounding the situation, some gasoline models were later found to have their own
problematic emissions inconsistencies (Kammel&Rauwald, 2015).
Volkswagen, which has long enjoyed a strong relationship with consumers and
what auto industry blogger Peter De Lorenzo calls “a core group of enthusiasts for their
diesels who believed in the Volkswagen message,” is now experiencing a serious trust
deficit (Bomey, 2015, para. 19). They face this in addition to fallen stocks, the probable
loss of billions of dollars in potential penalties and other expenses, and restructuring
efforts after the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn (AFP, 2015,
“Timeline of Events”; Duffer, 2015).
COMPANY HISTORY
 1930s–1940s: Origin of Volkswagen & Volkswagen in World War II
Volkswagen’s history dates back to May 28, 1937, when the German state-owned
GesellschaftzurVorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH (“Society for the
preparation of the German People’s Car”) came into being (“Volkswagen Success Story,”
2015).Its name was soon after shortened to Volkswagenwerk, “The People’s Car
Company.” Nazi-run and headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany, the company was
intended to fulfill Hitler’s desire to introduce an affordable, mass-produced car. Early
designs were provided by Ferdinand Porsche of Austria. Very early in the company’s life,
though, World War II redirected the company’s attention toward military production
(“Volkswagen Success Story,”2015). When the conflict ended, Volkswagen—then
called Volkswagen-Finanzierung-Gesellschaft and owned by the British Military
Government (“Volkswagen Success Story,” 2015)—became a cornerstone in “[the
Allies’] attempts to resuscitate the German auto industry” (“Volkswagen is Founded,”

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2015). Ownership eventually changed hands again, with the company returning to the
control of the German government (“Volkswagen Success Story,” 2015).
 1950s : VW entering the international market & Beetle becoming popular
The 1950s saw Volkswagen spreading to other nations, including Canada, Brazil, and the
United States. Early Volkswagen sales were slow in the US, hindered by the brand’s
historical ties to the Nazi party and also by the vehicles’ size and shape (“Volkswagen is
Founded,” 2015). Nonetheless, the company eventually grew to become the most popular
imported car brand in the United States (“Volkswagen is Founded,” 2015). With the
name “Beetle,” the company played up the cars’ small size, which they also highlighted
in the classic “Think Small” advertisement by Doyle Dane Bernbach (“Volkswagen is
Founded,” 2015; ”Volkswagen Brand History,” 2015).
 1960s: Stable development
In the 1960s, the company went public, with 60 percent ownership being allotted as
“people’s shares” and the remainder being split between central and local government.
This decade also saw the introduction of “Herbie,” an iconic Hollywood Beetle. With the
company continuing to grow and the Berlin Wall impacting the makeup of employees,
there was an influx of a number of Italian “guest workers” (“Volkswagen Brand History,”
2015). By the end of 1966, the organization had acquired Audi (ACNA, 2015).
 1970s: Mass production of Beetle & Creation of Golf
During the 1970s, the Beetle surpassed a production record previously held by the Ford
Model T, and the Passat and Jetta models were introduced. In the face of challenges
presented by an ongoing oil crisis and recession, the VW introduced a new Golf in 1974
with a 1.5-litre diesel engine. Not long after, the company began its first efforts in hybrid
technology, and the resulting prototype was exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern
Art (“Volkswagen Brand History,” 2015).
 1980s–1990s: Volkswagen in modern times & beginning of enterprises merger
During the following decade, the company, now Europe’s top automaker, opened a
research center to explore new technologies. In the 1990s, the Volkswagen Group took
over SEAT, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini. The diesel-powered Lupo,
promoted for its impressive fuel economy, appeared on the market. Another new model,
the Phaeton, appeared, serving as the Volkswagen brand’s first toe dipped into the luxury
car market. In 1997, the organization hosted “Top Priority—Partners for the
Environment,” in which a number of companies joined together to focus attention toward
environmental protection. The Volkswagen Environmental Award was also launched
(“Volkswagen Brand History,” 2015).
 2000s: Leading up to the current emission crisis
In 2007, Martin Winterkorn became CEO of Volkswagen AG. Around that same time,
the EPA initiated tougher testing on 2008 models (Duffer, 2015). In 2008, production
began on the Golf VI, which was called “safer and greener than ever before
(“Volkswagen Brand History,” 2015). From this point forward, the company’s history

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became increasingly tied into the events and decisions that led directly to the current
crisis.
CRISIS TIMELINE
2008—The defeat device is first installed on the EA189 diesel engine (Mihalascu,
2015).
2009—The first models of cars implicated in the scandal are released (Davenport &
Ewing, 2015).
May 2014—Researchers from West Virginia University find that on-road emissions do
not match lab findings (Lawrence, Elgin, & Silver, 2015).
September 18, 2015—The EPA accuses Volkswagen of cheating on its emissions test
with a “defeat device” and thereby violating standards (Cobb, 2015a).
September 20, 2015—Volkswagen announces halted sales of all 2015/2016 models
equipped with a 2.0-liter TDI engine (Harder and Spector, 2015).
September 22, 2015—Volkswagen allocates $7.3 billion to deal with the crisis (Chicago
Tribune). Winterkorn apologizes (Economic Times). The term “Dieselgate”
has its origin on Hybridcars.com (Siciliano, 2015).
September 23, 2015—CEO Martin Winterkorn resigns (Makortoff, Boyle, &Tutt,
2015).
September 25, 2015—Matthias Müller, formerly of Porsche, is named Winterkorn’s
successor (Ewing & Vlasic, 2015).
October 8, 2015—Michael Horn and officials from the EPA give testimony to the House
Energy and Commerce subcommittee. Horn apologizes (“Live Blog and
Video,” 2015).
October 17, 2015—Winterkorn steps down from Porsche Automobil Holding SE, which
owns more than 50% of Volkswagen; he will be replaced by Hans Dieter
Poetsch, Volkswagen’s new supervisory board chairman (Associated Press,
2015b).
November 2, 2015—The EPA accuses Volkswagen of installing test-defeating software
in other Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche diesel models. The company
disputes these claims, calling it “permissible software” (Spector & Boston,
2015).

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November 3, 2015—Bloomberg.com reports that Volkswagen AG has found through an
internal probe that some of their gasoline-powered vehicles may also have
been assigned false emissions readings. Specifically, 800,000 cars were found
to have “‘unexplained inconsistencies’ concerning their carbon-dioxide
output.” Porsche announces halted North American sales of Cayenne diesel
models (Kammel&Rauwald, 2015; Thompson, 2015).
November 4, 2015—The Associated Press tweets that Moody’s has downgraded
Volkswagen’s credit rating (Associated Press, 2015c).
End of 2016—Volkswagen expects to have fixed all 11 million vehicles initially
involved in the scandal (Ivory & Ewing, 2015).
IMPACT ON THE ORGANIZATION’S FINANCIAL BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
1. Fines
According to initial estimates, Volkswagen faced up to $18 billion in EPA fines
(Gardner & Woodall, 2015). In total, there are around 482,000 Volkswagen cars with
four-cylinder engines installed with the cheating software in America. Each non-
compliant vehicle might face penalties of $37,500.
Later, EPA disclosed that an additional 1,000 VW models with six-cylinder engines
have the defeat devices. Thus, VW could face up to $375 million in new fines in
addition to the original $18 billion fine. (Associated Press, 2015, November 2).
2. Loss of Revenue
Currently, customers cannot buy a new Volkswagen with the 2.0-liter TDI diesel
engine since the company has announced a stop-sale for its all 2015 and 2016 models
equipped with the four-cylinder 2.0 liter TDI engine (Lorio, 2015). Therefore, the
scandal certainly will reduce the company’s sales in the next few months.
3. Repairing Expenses
Volkswagen lost around $1.83 billion in the third quarter since it allocated 6.7 billion
euros to repair costs (McHugh, 2015).
As the scandal widened and more VW diesel models were found equipped with the
defeat devices, VW admitted that the company needed to raise new funds—around 2
billion euros—in addition to the 6.7 billion euros already issued for
repairs(Kammel&Rauwald, 2015).

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4. Stock Value
Source: Yahoo! Finance
On September 21, 2015, the first full business day of trading after the EPA accused
VW of cheating on its emission teat with a defeat device, the share prices of VW AG
fell 20 percent on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. On September 22, 2015, the stock
prices fell another 12 percent.
5. Resale Value and Plummet in Used-Car Market
Based on the used-car auction price, some vehicle valuation and automotive research
companies, like Kelly Blue Book, show the resale value of Volkswagen influenced
model cars in the U.S. market was decreased from 5 to nearly 16 percent. In addition,
according to the National Automobile Dealers Association’s October report on the
used-cars market, the actual volume of used VW diesel cars sold at auction has
plummeted (Beene, 2015, October 26).
According to the analysis from Forbes, combined the government fines and
settlements, recall expenses, private settlements and loss of future sales, the net
present value of the total cost of Volkswagen’s emission scandal will be around $34.5
billion (Dee, 2015)

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PUBLIC RESPONSES
Government
 VW has found itself under investigation by multiple governments. Government
responses will directly impact the company in terms of financial repercussions and
future regulation and will also likely impact the company’s reputation moving
forward.
 The company has traditionally enjoyed strong ties with its home country’s
government (Smale, 2015). It is Germany’s largest employer, and there are concerns
about consequences for German industry overall (Bender, 2015). The German
government has positioned itself as an ally in the United States’ response to the
scandal, perhaps hoping to limit negative effects on the German economy (Bender,
2015).
 Michael Horn (CEO of VW Group of America) faced a U.S. House subcommittee on
October 8, where representatives echoed expressions of anger and disbelief over the
deception (Rodriguez, 2015).
 EPA officials in attendance made it clear that VW is vulnerable to financial penalties
and criminal charges. They also asserted that future testing procedures will be
changed, which may have implications not only for future VW engineering but for
other automakers as well (“Lawmakers Press,” 2015).
Media
 After Volkswagen’s emission scandal broke out, the company received widespread
negative news reporting about the scandal. Major news organizations, such as
Reuters, Bloomberg and AP, all reported the scandal. Reuters reported with the
headline “Volkswagen could pose bigger threat to German economy than Greek
crisis” (Nienaber, 2015).
 The scandal also appeared in the headlines of multiple news websites, such as
Hybridcars.com, which used the headline “VW admits 11 million diesels globally are
potentially cheating” (Cobb, 2015b).
 In addition, some authoritative technology magazines, such as Popular Mechanics,
also reported the emission issue. Popular Mechanics said the VW emission scandal
is not only an issue of recalling, but also an issue of “cynical deceit” (Dyer, 2015).
 The term “Dieselgate” started being used to describe the emission scandal after the
company’s top managers officially admitted the violation and company CEO
Winterkorn stepped down (Siciliano, 2015).
 The media referred to the emission crisis as “Dieselgate,” which suggested that the
issue had reached a level so severe as to be comparable to former president Nixon’s

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Watergate scandal. The “gate” status means lying to the public and facing serious
charges (Cobb, 2015a).
Consumers
 As shown below, YouGov’s BrandIndex tracked a steep drop in brand perception
following the September revelations (from a Buzz score of between 10 and 11 for
most of the month to -2 as of September 22) (Marzilli, 2015).
Source: http://www.brandindex.com/article/volkswagens-diesel-scandal-
brings-lowest-perception-6-years
This graph reflects respondent’s positive and negative exposures to the brand over a
specified period. The full scale ranges between 100 and -100, with a score of zero
reflecting equal positivity and negativity.
 On September 18, Twitter users reacted by posting links to articles about the news
and expressing surprise and disapproval. Some used humor to mock the company.
For instance, Twitter user @RR_Anderson wrote, “Volkswagen, a car company
invented by Hitler, caught secretly poisoning the Earth” before linking to an NPR
article.
 A wave of lawsuits has begun, with customers accusing VW of defrauding them
(Meier, 2015).
 A survey conducted after the scandal became public revealed that 50% of consumers
still view VW positively or very positively. These respondents indicated that the
company still brings to mind positive things like reliability and affordability. Few
respondents seemed to overtly associate VW with negativity or scandal (Hennessy,
2015).

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 Some analysts have suggested that the company’s brand is strong enough to carry it
through the crisis relatively unscathed, particularly in European countries aside from
Germany (Verhage, 2015).
 There is some evidence that the public’s overall view of diesel may not have been
significantly impacted. The National Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing
found in an October survey that opinions of diesel among gas users were relatively
unchanged (Saefong, 2015).
Volkswagen’sResponse to the Scandal
After the emission scandal happened, Volkswagen conducted several strategies to cope
with the crisis and prevent the crisis from expanding.
1. Volkswagen publicly acknowledged the cheating devices were installed in some
diesel-powered VW models, after EPA announced Volkswagen violated the Clean
Air Act on September 18, 2015. Volkswagen American CEO Michael Horn said,
“We’ve totally screwed up.” Martin Winterkorn, the former CEO of Volkswagen
also publicly apologized for the wrong behavior of Volkswagen.
2. In official announcements, the top managers of Volkswagen were persistent
showing that the company was trying to do everything it can to compensate
customers and gain back their trusts. Winterkorn said his resignation could give
Volkswagen a fresh start.
a. In addition, Matthias Müller, the company’s new CEO, voiced that his
most important duty is to gain back customers’ trust. “Under my
leadership, Volkswagen will do everything it can to develop and
implement the most stringent compliance and governance standards in our
industry,” Müller vowed in an official statement (Volkswagen AG, 2015).
b. Müller also showed his faith about Volkswagen; he believed this crisis
was an opportunity for the company to conduct reform and become
stronger than before.
3. In order to contact with customers and listen to public opinion, Volkswagen
launched a new, dedicated portal in the U.S.
https://www.vwdieselinfo.com/(Molleda, 2015).Customers can find out the latest
news about Volkswagen’s emission scandal and seek for help from this website
by checking their vehicle identification number.
4. Volkswagen started to issue financial compensation for customers to save back
their loyalty. Volkswagen will provide a $2,000 reward for existing Volkswagen
owners who will buy or rent any new Volkswagen hybrid or gasoline cars (Beene,
2015, October 5).
a. Apart from this, Volkswagen of America created a ‘2.0L GOODWILL
PACKAGE’ for affected customers. The ‘2.0L GOODWILL PACKAGE’
including: “a $500 Volkswagen Prepaid Visa Loyalty Card, a $500
Volkswagen Dealership Card, and no-charge 24-hour Roadside Assistance

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for three years.” (Volkswagen diesel information, 2015). Volkswagen
hopes this goodwill package can help the company to compensate the loss
of customers and correct its mistakes.
Source: https://www.vwdieselinfo.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/11/Customer_Goodwill_Package_Overview_1.pdf
5. By buying back some unsellable, used diesel vehicles, Volkswagen was trying to
contain the used diesel cars’ value in the market and protect the dealer shops’
benefits. According to a Volkswagen dealer meeting, Volkswagen will buy back
the affected used diesel vehicles at the price from before the scandal happened if
the pre-owned cars remain in the inventories of dealers for 60 days or longer.
(Beene, 2015, October 30).

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CONCLUSIONS
Emissions scandals and defeat devices are not unique to this particular crisis. In
past instances, the EPA has responded by revising testing procedures, and it is expected
that the current Volkswagen crisis will also lead to changes in regulations and testing
procedures (Beene, 2015).
Aside from the financial consequences (in the billions of dollars) for the company,
this scandal also amounts to a trust crisis. As former CEO Winterkorn said, Volkswagen
“broke the trust of [its] customers and the public.” Winterkorn asserted that it is crucial to
regain the trust of the people (Hotten, 2015). As part of their response to the situation,
Volkswagen and new CEO Müller have stepped up efforts to gain back some of the
goodwill lost.As has been noted, however, the Volkswagen reputation itselfmay be strong
enough to survive the current scandal.
In general, this latest emissions crisis is casting widespread doubt over the validity
of claims that diesel is a clean fuel option, claims that Volkswagen has relied upon in
their business and marketing (Harder & Spector, 2015). Going forward, some have
suggested that VW should refocus its energies into hybrid and electric models, which it
has largely shirked in favor of its diesel offerings (Wharton, 2015). Such technology is
expected to benefit as environmental concerns grow and emissions regulations continue
to buckle down (Trudell& Hagiwara, 2015). Currently, Volkswagen’s electric Phaeton
model is set to compete on this front (Perkins, 2015). With diesel failing to live up to
expectations, redirecting focus toward these technologies might help give Volkswagen a
light at the end of the tunnel (Randall, 2015).

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