2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal damaged other German automakers’ reputations and profits, study shows

In 2015, Volkswagen was exposed for bypassing U.S. emissions standards by equipping their diesel-engine cars with a so-called defeat device that could detect emissions tests, adjust levels to ensure compliance, then revert to non-compliant levels after test completion. Stepan Family Associate Professor of Economics Rüdiger Bachmann at the University of Notre Dame and his co-authors studied the scandal and found that the fallout from Volkswagen’s wrongdoing cost other German car makers billions of dollars in sales.

“We find that the VW scandal reduced the sales of the other German auto manufacturers. … Specifically, the overall effect on those manufacturers amounted to a decline in sales of 104,661 vehicles valued at $5.2 billion in 2016, based on the list prices in the data,” Bachmann and his co-authors write in a working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research. read more »

2019 BMW X5 X7 Wheels May Come Off While Driving

BMW of North America, LLC is recalling certain 2019 X5 xDrive50i and X7 xDrive40i vehicles. The left side wheel bolts may have been insufficiently tightened and may loosen over time.

Loose bolts may allow a wheel to detach from the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash. read more »