Already for a couple of years, I had been reading some articles about unrealistic test cycles and the cheating of the car industry to seem cleaner than life. A EU initiative to tighten the rules for the emission test was killed years ago by Germany after lobbying of its car industry.
The cars I drove myself always consumed much more than advertised. And I drive like an anti-Schumacher. No speeding tickets ever, my challenge is to almost never use the breaks.
It must have been obvious to everyone, private and institutional, that the official fuel consumptions and emissions were totally fake.
Volkswagen obviously had gone just a bit further at faking their emission levels.
By now, almost every car manufacturer has been found to cheat, in more ways or less ways, but cheat.
Over the last days, the story goes further. German car manufacturers apparently have sat together for years to discuss standards, prices, policies. How to lobby for a friendly EU. It may be a cartel, which is criminal. It may be on the borderline; collaboration and agreement on standards are normal for any industry.
Today, a German minister forbids the sale of Porsche Cayennes (part of VW) for emission software cheats.
The problem with our world is that the distance between politically correct narrative and the reality is drifting ever further apart. In the case of the car industry, the emission standards demanded by the hype are technically impossible to achieve with internal combustion engines. Politicians, lobbyist and media kind of conspired to serve the public an illusion that lower emission levels are possible and are also implemented. And then everybody kind of conspired to keep this illusion alive.
The issue is that Germany thrives on building cars the old fashioned way. Burning fuel and emitting bad stuff. And millions of German voters earn their salaries offering impossibly clean cars to the entire world. They may very well be the Kodaks and Nokias of today: Missed the boat.
The party was meant to go on forever. But, no party does!
Go buy a Tesla, Zoe’s, I3’s or BYD’s and get over it. I wrote a lot about the coming electric cars, check it out.
Are you really surprised? Is your car now worse?