WEBVTT
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33c3 preroll music
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applause
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Herald: So, has anyone of you heard of
Rolling Coal? It's a mostly American
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phenomenon of modifying your car in such a
way as to maximize the emissions so they
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are visible as a big black cloud of smoke.
Apparently I heard that VW cars are now
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very popular among the friends of Rolling
Coal. But let's not joke so much and focus
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on the topic at hand. Daniel Lange has the
mission to stop the omissions of emissions
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at VW. He spoke to hundreds
of people since...
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laughter
applause
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Last year he also gave a talk together
with a colleague about the same topic and
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since then he has spoken to hundreds of
people and has gained some new insides
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that he will now share with us. I welcome
you to Dieselgate—one year later.
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applause
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Daniel Lange: Thanks very much. Can you
hear me? Okay. Wonderful. Thank you very
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much. A very quick announcement: The talk
will be about 40 minutes, so if you have
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to leave after 30 minutes because you have
a dinner appointment or something like
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that, please do so quietly. I was really
unable to reduce the slides down much
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further without taking all the jokes away.
So, my name is Daniel Lange. I have worked
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on the Dieselgate stuff on and off over
the last year because I worked with press,
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so I worked with litigation people. And
last year I was here because I felt that
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this Volkswagen notion of there being this
“rogue group of engineers” was so
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utterly wrong, and everybody in the
automotive industry actually knows this,
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that I just felt I had to speak up. And I
don't know why, but they kind of keep
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motivating me to come back and point out
their lies, so that's actually what I'm
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going to do. I myself have worked for 16
years in the automotive industry. 14 years
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of that at a Bavarian manufacturer that's
not located in Ingolstadt.
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laughter
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And I run my own company, right,
Faster IT here is a consultancy, but we
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don't work for the automotive industry,
right, so that's why I can actually talk
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here and don't have much of an issue.
Hello, next slide, okay, this was broken
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in the process, so I'm fixed here. I can't
walk. So everybody basically cheated,
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right? The emissions thing is not a
Volkswagen scandal. It's Dieselgate. It's
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something where nearly everybody basically
has an issue. So this is why I'd actually
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like to show you this slide to just, you
know, relieve my conscience. This is about
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the temperature window. This is kind of
the second last finding that came out in
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the middle of this year, that basically
everybody has a temperature window, where
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they reduce and at some point in time
switch off the emissions treatment system.
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And if like at Opel, which Felix is going
to talk about later a bit more, or Nissan
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or Audi for example, these kick in at
17°C, that kind of has a flavour to it,
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that has a taste to it, because the
testing is being done at 20°C and there's
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a 2°C margin of error. So that means,
testing can be at 18°C to 22°C and if
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you're starting to switch off your
emissions treatment at 17°C, you just
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start to switch it off, like in most
real-life situations in northern Europe or
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in the States, but you're sure it's
available when the car has been properly
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set up for testing. So, sadly so that's
the only slide I'm going to show, which is
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not on Volkswagen, so I'm also guilty of
not putting enough focus on the others,
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but Volkswagen is just so entertaining
that, you know, I can't make that up with
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anybody else. So, this is the money slide.
This is kind of to update you in case you
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have been living under a rock for the
last, I don't know, six months. There's
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two class action suits. Class action suits
are a legislation in the States which
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allows to collect actions from individual
people that have owned a Volkswagen and
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have been betrayed together and they have
split the solution to these class action
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suits into two, because on the 2 liter it
was rather easy—Volkswagen said: “Yes,
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we cheated.”—, but on the 3 liter they
maintained for quite a long time that they
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didn't cheat, so there were extended
negotiations. And what you see here is
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basically a breakdown of the overall cost,
which is currently estimated to be in the
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$ 12 billion range for settling these. For
the 2.0 liters, Volkswagen basically has
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to buy them back. A bit more on this
later. And for the 3.0s they have split
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them into a Generation 1, which they also
buy back, and a Generation 2 and those
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vehicles will be getting a new catalyst,
they will be getting up to three new
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sensors, they will get a turbine mixer for
the injection of the Diesel emission
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fluid, they will get a new Diesel emission
fluid—Ad Blue is the brand name—dosing
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valve. All of these have to be approved by
the EPA and if it is approved, Volkswagen
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can retrofit it. If not, they also have to
buy back the vehicles, so this is why it
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says “GOTO 1” there, right, because
then they will be treated the same as
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Generation 1. Now if you compare that—I
don't know whether you saw the talk last
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year—in Europe there is this plastic
tube, this flow rectifier, a kind of, I
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don't know, 3 Euro part, which is put into
your car and all is well, right? Now,
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okay, that's, you know? Honestly, 2 liter
engines, 3 liter engines, they are
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different. 4 cylinders, 6 cylinders, but,
you know, I guess everybody, you don't
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need to work in the automotive industry to
understand that a plastic part for 3 Euro
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and some better flow calculations are not
the same as investing substantially in
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each car to really equip it with what it
should have been equipped with right from
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the beginning. So that's kind of the
settlement there. The process is quite
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interesting. Volkswagen has to reach 85%
of all customers bringing in their vehicle
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for fix or buying back those vehicles. If
not, there will be additional penalties.
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So that's the way that the US folks
actually make sure that this is successful
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and somebody in the States gets like
$ 10,000 to 20,000 on top of the value of
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their car. So that's kind of quite
substantial. For the States themselves
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this is also quite interesting, because
the last lines you're seeing there is
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$ 2.7 billion on the 2.0 settlement and
another $ 225 million on the 3.0 liter
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settlement. They go into an environmental
trust and this is then used to, you know,
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buy new bus fleets, build up forests, do
infrastructure for zero emission vehicles
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and so on and so on. So there's a lot of
money actually being available now to the
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government of the United States, and
Canada has settled for a very similar
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thing, to actually do good for the
environment and set off the damage that
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Volkswagen has done to the environment.
There's an unofficial figure which I
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didn't put on the slides, so the press
people that only read the slides don't get
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it, so they really need to see the talk,
Bosch seems to have settled for a $ 300
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million fine as well, so they will pay
$ 300 million into the fund to offset their
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participation in the Dieselgate. I think
you probably remember that we were
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discussing how much did Bosch know last
year and we basically showed that it's not
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possible to do this type of cheating
without a close cooperation between the
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supplier of the electronic control unit,
which is Bosch in this case, and the OEM,
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which is the Volkswagen group. The
callback process itself is quite
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interesting as well. This is the form that
you have to fill when you bring in your
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car and Volkswagen has hired more than 700
people in the States just to conduct this
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process. So this is not only, you know,
about $ 5 billion to the environment and
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to zero emission vehicles and building up
the infrastructure, it is also really a
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job machine, because at every dealer's
there is a dedicated person taking care of
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this process and there are 700 people that
run it for Volkswagen central in the USA.
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I find this mildly funny here, because in
the process they're actually making you
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fill that your car has gone the milage
which is shown on the odometer, so about
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30%-40% of our old cars sold in Germany
have falsified odometer readings. This is
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really another scandal. This is something
that is not being so widely reported on,
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but if you buy a used car, you have a
chance of one in three, that it's actually
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a car that is not worth the money you're
paying. And it's so easy to fix this
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problem, but the OEMs don't seem to have
an interest to do it. And the outcome here
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is that actually Volkswagen tells you:
“By law you are required to give an
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honest statement on how many miles does
that car actually have”. You know, it's
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quite funny that they actually are bitten
by the same problem which they have
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ignored in the market for a long time.
Okay. So, the thing is, the official
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narrative from Volkswagen is, they want to
buy back transparency and trust to their
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customers. This is from Mr. Müller, who
is the CEO of Volkswagen group at this
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time: “From the very start I have pushed
hard for the relentless and comprehensive
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clarification of events. We will stop at
nothing and nobody. This is a painful
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process, but it is our only alternative.
For us, the only thing that counts is the
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truth. This is the basis for the
fundamental realignment that Volkswagen
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needs. The Board of Management of
Volkswagen deeply regrets this situation
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and wishes to underscore its determination
to systematically continue along the
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present path of clarification
and transparency.”
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Can I have an applause
for this please?
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applause
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Thank you very much. And, you know,
because heads of states and ministers
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don't read press clippings, they actually
write letters like these to every head of
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state, to every minister in Europe, at
least as much as I could verify, where
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they personally update the ministers to,
you know, give them the latest
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claims—this is from May 2016, so it's,
you know, half a year later and you can
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read it here, it's the same narrative as,
you know, “we're doing well” and, you
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know, “we keep you informed” and, you
know, “there's no need to listen to
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anybody else. We own the narrative. We are
actually informing you”. So, let's check
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one thing. Hello? Thank you. Right when
the Dieselgate scandal broke there were
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two things. There was the NOx issue,
which has clarified that it's a real
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problem, that there are defeat devices in
the engines. They are being fixed. And
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there was the CO2 issue. The CO2 issue
was pretty clear, because, you know, the
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cars actually consume much more fuel than
the sticker rating says, so there must be
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a problem there, right? There is a problem
there, but Volkswagen called it off really
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quickly and this is my Maha moment, right?
Martin Haase is here. If you read that
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line here: “No unlawful change to the
stated fuel consumption and CO2 figures
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found to date” right? So there is
Volkswagen saying: “We didn't find
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anything to date.” Now that kind of, you
know, that's a pointer, right? So, let's
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keep on looking. This is from November
this year. This is a new class action suit
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and Audi in this case here is sued,
because inside their gearbox, inside their
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automatic gearbox there is yet another
defeat device. There is a defeat device
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that actually makes this car drive like a
dog, so it shifts up really early, it
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doesn't provide any torque, but that is
sufficient to run through test cycles and
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obviously, if the car doesn't have any
power, it consumes very little fuel and
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thus you get very good sticker ratings and
you get very good CO2 emissions. So, we
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found it, right? Felix will give a bit
more details on the technical side here,
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but this is a class action suit, so this
is the same thing, which they have settled
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for with the engines now running for the
gearbox and the module in the engines that
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cooperates with those gearboxes here. Next
fact check. Warranties. Volkswagen refuses
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to give warranties in Europe. So, you
know, we're only getting those cheap
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fixes, but then people like the ADAC, the
German biggest car owners' club, asks:
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“Couldn't you please kindly at least
give us a warranty? Can't you warrant that
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it will not have a negative effect on the
car?” And Volkswagen says: “No, we
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can't. We'll give you a certificate. We'll
give you a paper, but it's not a
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warranty.” And this is 'juristische
Feinheiten', so this is legal intricacies,
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right? We can't do this, It's very sorry,
but you'll get a paper. Now if you look at
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the States, this is the settlement, which
came out on 20th of December, so the
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second part of the settlement and the
American customers get a 10 year warranty
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or 120,000 miles, which is about 200,000
kilometers and they get 4 years or 48,000
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miles after the fitting the new catalyst
and all the other stuff insight the car.
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So that means not only do they get a stash
of money, not only do they get their cars
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properly fixed, they also get a warranty
that the proper fix is proper and if not,
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Volkswagen has to redo it. So, you see
that it's possible, but there's a huge
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discrepancy between the American legal
system that forces a company to do this
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and the European legal system that
apparently does not have any scare factor
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or any lever to motivate them to give a
warranty. And they're not giving it by
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free will, right? They could. They could
just be generous and say like: “Of
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course. We fucked up. Sorry, we'll give a
warranty.” But they've been asked over
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and over and over again and they've
refused to do this. So, Jack Ewing from
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the New York Times, one of the few really
good journalists working on that topic put
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it well: “In the US, VW owners get cash.
In Europe, they get plastic tubes.”
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applause
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And there's another thing I want to point
out to you. We ran this here in the
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Süddeutsche Zeitung a few days ago.
Volkswagen says, it wants transparency,
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but what it does is, it actually goes and
keeps as much information secret as
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possible. So in this case here, every time
somebody sues Volkswagen, they settle and
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they used to be settling in court,
which means, you could get the
00:16:52.620 --> 00:16:56.340
information, you know, what was the
settlement value? Did they buy back the
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car? And now they've learned and they
settle out of court, because then the
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court only records that the two parties
have settled, you know, somebody pays the
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fee for the court, which is only a few
hundred Euros and everything is fine. And
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you don't find out what the settlement is.
So this is something which they're now
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doing quite on a big scale and the thing
here is, we have a very odd situation. The
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Kraftfahrtbundesamt says: “You need to
do the recall”, but legally they have
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not ordered the recall. So this is
something that is voluntary. Well
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voluntary actually means, it's voluntary
for both sides. Volkswagen voluntarily
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fixes the car and you voluntarily agree to
have the car fixed. If you don't want to
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have that voluntary agreement, you can
sue. And we can't do this as a class
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action suit. You can't do this like in the
States so it's done once and for all. It
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has to be going through the regional
courts and everywhere, but the pattern we
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are seeing as Volkswagen is afraid of
getting actually judges to trial this and
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actually get fines and have to buy back
the cars, so they settle quite generously
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outside of court. The downside is, when
people settle, they need to subscribe to a
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non disclosure agreement, to keep
everything silent, and they put really
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hefty sums on this, so there's like five
figure Euro sums that people have to pay.
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So they kind of get their car bought back
for, you know, a few thousand Dollars or
00:18:26.930 --> 00:18:31.670
Euros on top and then, if they were
talking about it, they would be having to
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pay hefty fines to Volkswagen. So that's
the way they keep people quiet. Another
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way, which is quite interesting, is a
court case which is running at the
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Landgericht Paderborn actually asked Mr.
Winterkorn to come around and testify. And
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he's a witness, so, you know, courts can
ask witnesses to show up. But Mr.
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Winterkorn actually said: “No, sorry,
sorry. I would like to have my right to
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remain silent on it.” Remaining silent
is a legal privilege against self
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incrimination. So you cannot be forced to
say something in court which will be later
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causing a problem to yourself. But the
issue here is, Volkswagen always said:
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“You know, he's not our boss anymore. We
continue to pay him and he gets a hefty,
00:19:26.411 --> 00:19:31.010
hefty income still for sitting at home
and, I don't know, watching TV or watching
00:19:31.010 --> 00:19:33.510
this talk.” Hi!
00:19:33.510 --> 00:19:34.980
laughter
00:19:34.980 --> 00:22:31.820
The thing is, if the narrative is true and
he didn't know, he can go to court and he
00:19:43.520 --> 00:19:50.340
can say: “I didn't know”. He may be on
oath, so that means, he has to really be
00:19:50.340 --> 00:19:54.720
sure that he didn't know, but that's the
only thing that could happen. But they're
00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:59.840
fighting this really hard. So in this case
here, that's an invitation for 20th of
00:19:59.840 --> 00:20:05.400
January. On 20th of January the court will
have a hearing only on the fact of Mr.
00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:10.670
Winterkorn having to show up and testify,
so the thing is another pattern which
00:20:10.670 --> 00:20:15.600
we're seeing here and that pattern is:
Volkswagen is trying to delay everything
00:20:15.600 --> 00:20:19.650
as much as they can. So in this case
they're not saying: “Yeah, we'll bring
00:20:19.650 --> 00:20:23.410
him along and, you know, yes, there will
be some press, but, you know, we fucked
00:20:23.410 --> 00:20:28.520
up, so, you know, that's fair.” They
delay everything as much as they can.
00:20:28.520 --> 00:20:34.250
We think, the legal issue behind this is,
they granted an extension on the deadlines
00:20:34.250 --> 00:20:41.340
for cases to be brought against them until
31st of December next year. So we think,
00:20:41.340 --> 00:20:45.350
they kind of reconsidered and are now
trying to drag everything out beyond that
00:20:45.350 --> 00:20:49.860
deadline. Because legally, because there's
no class action suits here in Germany,
00:20:49.860 --> 00:20:55.160
that means the right to sue has voided
because of the time when people bought the
00:20:55.160 --> 00:21:00.660
cars and, you know, there's warranties of
two years and that's it. So that's kind
00:21:00.660 --> 00:21:04.680
of, you know, what's probably happening
and that's probably the tactics, which is
00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:11.710
behind that. Okay, one thing for the
journalists: This is a list from Rogert &
00:21:11.710 --> 00:21:16.770
Ulbrich, who are lawyers working on the
Volkswagen cases, of all the German court
00:21:16.770 --> 00:21:22.240
cases where Volkswagen was forced to buy
back, compensate or terminate the leases.
00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:26.390
So they are happening and the red ones
here are Oberlandesgerichte. They're like
00:21:26.390 --> 00:21:32.740
higher level courts. But I guess, you,
like me, have not really seen much press
00:21:32.740 --> 00:21:37.460
reporting on this. And that's one of the
issues here. The Volkswagen people are
00:21:37.460 --> 00:21:42.350
very good at communicating to the press,
doing regular press clippings, have all
00:21:42.350 --> 00:21:48.600
the good marketing and advertising running
and journalists need to do tedious work.
00:21:48.600 --> 00:21:53.550
They need to go to those courts and say,
like, you know: “Can I please have the
00:21:53.550 --> 00:21:57.810
documentation?” And they need to write a
piece on that and stuff like that. So, we
00:21:57.810 --> 00:22:02.020
really need to get the message over to the
journalists that it would be really cool
00:22:02.020 --> 00:22:06.780
if they were reporting both sides of the
picture, because then actually the people
00:22:06.780 --> 00:22:11.450
that read the magazines, that read the
Internet and possibly newspapers, if
00:22:11.450 --> 00:22:17.050
people still do that, they will actually
get a more fair picture, because this
00:22:17.050 --> 00:22:20.870
information here is out there. It's
available for grabs, if you have all the
00:22:20.870 --> 00:22:27.850
Aktenzeichen here, so, please folks, pick
it up and write some pieces on this.
00:22:27.850 --> 00:22:34.840
applause
00:22:34.840 --> 00:22:42.300
One of the things I predicted in 2015 was
accidental data loss, right? Because
00:22:42.300 --> 00:22:48.450
always when these big things happen and,
in the States the thing is, you actually
00:22:48.450 --> 00:22:56.300
get the right to request the other party
to produce data for you. So, it's
00:22:56.300 --> 00:23:02.400
different from the way it's here in
Europe, and that's kind of a very big
00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:08.670
tool. It's quite logical that it's very
hard for the incriminated side to go and
00:23:08.670 --> 00:23:13.860
produce all the material that will
actually proof that it has betrayed, that
00:23:13.860 --> 00:23:18.850
it has committed fraud and so on. So, it
was a quite sure bet and here is the
00:23:18.850 --> 00:23:23.900
result. We have two incidents here: The
one on the top is a gentleman called
00:23:23.900 --> 00:23:27.450
Daniel Donovan. He worked as an
information manager at the general
00:23:27.450 --> 00:23:33.890
counsel's in the legal team of Volkswagen
group of America and he said: “I
00:23:33.890 --> 00:23:39.090
questioned whether you are actually
preserving evidence well.” And this is
00:23:39.090 --> 00:23:44.880
why he was fired. And then they
settled. So, there is an agreement or a
00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:51.650
communication here again by Jack Ewing
reported, which is word by word the same
00:23:51.650 --> 00:23:56.070
between his legal team and the Volkswagen
legal team and they agreed on very
00:23:56.070 --> 00:24:01.090
amicable terms. And it was settled out of
court, so we don't know how much he was
00:24:01.090 --> 00:24:06.620
paid. And then there is another lawsuit.
I didn't give the name here, because it's
00:24:06.620 --> 00:24:10.360
not publicly known. You can find it out if
you know how to use Google, but it's not
00:24:10.360 --> 00:24:15.260
very publicly known. There was a German
law advisor at Volkswagen and he requested
00:24:15.260 --> 00:24:19.630
his colleagues to delete documents. So he
basically wrote an email to his colleagues
00:24:19.630 --> 00:24:23.340
and said, like: “You know, we're getting
under pressure. Please delete all
00:24:23.340 --> 00:24:27.120
incriminating stuff.” That's not a very
cool thing to do if you're a company
00:24:27.120 --> 00:24:34.130
lawyer. And then we have the FTC, the
Federal Trade Commission, and they brought
00:24:34.130 --> 00:24:38.590
a lawsuit against Volkswagen because,
read the first line here, they lost or
00:24:38.590 --> 00:24:46.930
accidentally erased 23 mobile phones. I
don't know. These things just, you know,
00:24:46.930 --> 00:24:54.760
whoop, another one gone. I don't know.
The other issue they had is, Volkswagen
00:24:54.760 --> 00:25:00.820
brought a witness and they said: “This
witness was either unprepared or unable to
00:25:00.820 --> 00:25:06.290
provide information because 250 times
he said: “I don't know” to all the
00:25:06.290 --> 00:25:11.020
questions. And the funny thing is, and
here we have another Maha moment of
00:25:11.020 --> 00:25:15.520
over-communication, in the reply
Volkswagen said: “Oh, he was very well
00:25:15.520 --> 00:25:20.180
prepared. We spent 20 days with him,
just preparing for that deposition.”
00:25:20.180 --> 00:25:29.840
laughter + applause
00:25:29.840 --> 00:25:37.850
So it took Volkswagen 20 days to make
one engineer say “I don't know” a
00:25:37.850 --> 00:25:45.940
sufficient amount of times. Okay, so why do
we all have this problem in Europe, right?
00:25:45.940 --> 00:25:49.730
It seems to be working in the States
somehow. Where does that come from? And
00:25:49.730 --> 00:25:54.610
the root cause here is actually copy and
paste regulation, or regulation by Stack
00:25:54.610 --> 00:26:00.810
Overflow, or however you want to call it.
The thing on the upper side is the
00:26:00.810 --> 00:26:05.270
American regulation. They define two
things. And I'm sorry, you won't be able
00:26:05.270 --> 00:26:09.200
to read it all, but the slides are being
made public and then you can dig into
00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:14.050
this. But the basic idea here is, the
Americans define Auxiliary Emission
00:26:14.050 --> 00:26:21.130
Control Devices, so things that actually
modify some physical values which have an
00:26:21.130 --> 00:26:27.870
effect on emissions. And then there's a
defeat device. A defeat device is an AECD
00:26:27.870 --> 00:26:31.480
which reduces the effectiveness of
emission control, so it doesn't improve it
00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:40.220
for example, and in many cases it is not
disclosed, so you may have AECDs. You may
00:26:40.220 --> 00:26:43.930
even have AECDs that reduce the
effectiveness of an emission control
00:26:43.930 --> 00:26:47.791
system and those are then called defects.
And there's an amount of defects which
00:26:47.791 --> 00:26:51.640
you’re allowed to have. And the amount of
defects decreases from year to year, so
00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:56.250
that is a way to steer the automotive
industry into compliance. A very clever
00:26:56.250 --> 00:27:01.550
system. Now whoever wrote the law for the
European Union actually just copied and
00:27:01.550 --> 00:27:05.510
pasted, which you can see because you'll
find all the same words there, and there's
00:27:05.510 --> 00:27:09.790
a second slide coming up and you'll find
more of the definition here at the top,
00:27:09.790 --> 00:27:15.701
vehicle speed, engine RPM, transmission,
manifold vacuum and so on. And, so, they
00:27:15.701 --> 00:27:20.080
just copied and pasted and thought like,
“We don't need AECDs”, you know, they
00:27:20.080 --> 00:27:24.590
just say: “A defeat device is an AECD,
so, let's ditch the AECD.” It's like,
00:27:24.590 --> 00:27:29.270
you know, people that copy and paste or
Debian working on the random number
00:27:29.270 --> 00:27:33.190
generator. It's like, you know, “I don't
understand that code. It doesn't seem to
00:27:33.190 --> 00:27:37.130
be used. Let's ditch it.” And so they
did “I don't understand AECDs. They
00:27:37.130 --> 00:27:40.450
don't really … necessary. Ditch it.”
But the problem here is, this is
00:27:40.450 --> 00:27:44.570
why Volkswagen can actually say: “We
don't have a defeat device.” And the way
00:27:44.570 --> 00:27:56.670
they say it is again very lovely. They
say: “We have no unlawful defeat device
00:27:56.670 --> 00:27:59.370
under European law”, right?
00:27:59.370 --> 00:28:01.090
laughter
00:28:01.090 --> 00:28:05.570
So we have a defeat device, but it's not
unlawful and not under European law. And
00:28:05.570 --> 00:28:10.140
they clarify this and say: “The
efficiency of emissions cleanup systems
00:28:10.140 --> 00:28:14.910
will not be reduced in those vehicles,
which however would be a prerequisite for
00:28:14.910 --> 00:28:21.350
the existence of an unlawful defeat device
in the legal sense.” So that's a quote.
00:28:21.350 --> 00:28:25.640
So what that actually means is, they found
the loophole and the loophole is there
00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:31.710
because people have been doing bad copy
and paste regulation. Okay, now, the other
00:28:31.710 --> 00:28:37.160
problem the European Union has, is that
it's herding cats and the only tool it has
00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:41.880
is this one very long stick, which is the
EU Treaty infringement process,
00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:50.410
Vertragsverletzungsverfahren in German.
So, the thing here is, they actually would
00:28:50.410 --> 00:28:55.210
want to have proper emissions'
regulations, but they can't, because it
00:28:55.210 --> 00:29:00.740
needs to be put into local laws and there
are 3 countries that didn't put any
00:29:00.740 --> 00:29:06.960
sanctioning mechanisms in place over 7
years and there are 4 countries which
00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:12.360
didn't use those sanctioning mechanisms.
One of them is Germany, obviously.
00:29:12.360 --> 00:29:17.840
Actually the UK will probably evade this
because they can just sit it out. Brexit.
00:29:17.840 --> 00:29:23.450
Okay, so this guy here, he was really
really pissed because Fiat didn't show up
00:29:23.450 --> 00:29:27.809
when he said: “But you are actually
emitting way to much. We caught you in our
00:29:27.809 --> 00:29:33.760
lovely report, which we made. So would you
please show up and, you know, we'll really
00:29:33.760 --> 00:29:39.420
tell you off.” And Fiat said: “You
know, we're an Italian company. We are
00:29:39.420 --> 00:29:44.940
regulated in Italy. We will answer to the
Italian people, but we don't really want
00:29:44.940 --> 00:29:48.780
to chat with you.” So he was really
pissed. He made a press report, that was
00:29:48.780 --> 00:29:53.170
from the press report, and said like:
“This uncooperative behavior from Fiat
00:29:53.170 --> 00:30:00.470
is completely not understandable.” All
right? This is from Süddeutsche Zeitung
00:30:00.470 --> 00:30:07.610
and it basically says that his people went
and took the report, which was already
00:30:07.610 --> 00:30:14.929
very amicable. We know the quote „Mit
industriefreundlichen Grüßen“, right?
00:30:14.929 --> 00:30:20.030
I don't know whether you read newspapers.
And they softened it down even more,
00:30:20.030 --> 00:30:29.240
right? I was at the IMIS commission of the
European Union, which is the investigative
00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:34.460
committee on Dieselgate and I just called
that report a joke and I'll repeat that
00:30:34.460 --> 00:30:39.620
here. It's a joke and I wouldn't wan't to
have my name on that, so any scientist
00:30:39.620 --> 00:30:45.090
that does, sorry, that's more kind of
shameful. Perhaps take it out of your CV,
00:30:45.090 --> 00:30:50.850
so as to try and hide it. So, the funny
thing is, here it is said, also in this
00:30:50.850 --> 00:30:55.620
press statement: “It cannot be that a
European law is formulated in a way that
00:30:55.620 --> 00:31:00.500
manufacturers of underdeveloped engines
can hide behind engine protection
00:31:00.500 --> 00:31:03.370
reasons.”
Audience: Only German ones!
00:31:03.370 --> 00:31:08.880
D: Right. So, I'm sorry, this is German.
But the car he meant was obviously the
00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:14.419
Fiat 500X, which was measured in this
report, but if you look at this engine
00:31:14.419 --> 00:31:18.740
here, which is from his own report, it's
the Audi A3, the 3 liter, the one, which
00:31:18.740 --> 00:31:25.240
has just been settled in the States, and
it is allowed to emit 180 mg, so in the
00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:30.110
cold and in the warm it does this, but as
soon as you go below 10°C, remember,
00:31:30.110 --> 00:31:35.600
there was this temperature window, right,
it does 663 mg and when you do it on the
00:31:35.600 --> 00:31:41.190
road and you actually move the steering
wheel and it detects that, it does 868 mg.
00:31:41.190 --> 00:31:45.650
So underdeveloped engines are made in
Germany and actually produced in Hungary,
00:31:45.650 --> 00:31:52.690
because that's where the engine comes
from. I was in a cold retreat on an island
00:31:52.690 --> 00:31:56.320
in the mediterranean sea. I run my own
company, so, you know, we can do great
00:31:56.320 --> 00:32:00.910
things for our employers and somebody
brought this. And I don't read Bild
00:32:00.910 --> 00:32:03.809
Zeitung. I have to read Bild Zeitung
because they are the only ones who have a
00:32:03.809 --> 00:32:08.150
leak and get some information out of
Volkswagen and everybody copies them, it's
00:32:08.150 --> 00:32:11.980
really weird, right? Bild am Sonntag
reports it first and then the Süddeutsche
00:32:11.980 --> 00:32:20.260
Zeitung writes an editorial on it. And in
here I found a gem and the gem is the
00:32:20.260 --> 00:32:25.790
Kraftfahrtbundesamt doesn't actually have
people who are able to analyze what Opel
00:32:25.790 --> 00:32:32.190
gives them, so they have tasked Felix
Domke, the guy who is coming after me, and
00:32:32.190 --> 00:32:38.410
asked him to actually verify whether Opel
has actually implemented a fix. So, you
00:32:38.410 --> 00:32:42.560
know, I'm very happy they support the
hacker community, but I don't think that
00:32:42.560 --> 00:32:45.850
is a very sustainable business model
for authorities, right?
00:32:45.850 --> 00:32:47.700
laughter
00:32:47.700 --> 00:32:54.840
applause
00:32:54.840 --> 00:33:01.600
Okay, so, second to last point.
Braunschweig. Braunschweig. The
00:33:01.600 --> 00:33:07.740
Braunschweig general attorney's office are
the ones that actually should be analyzing
00:33:07.740 --> 00:33:14.960
the case of all the Volkswagen senior
management. They have now 28 people which
00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:18.870
they are investigating against and that
includes Mr. Hans Dieter Pötsch, who is
00:33:18.870 --> 00:33:25.640
the former CEO, Martin Winterkorn, and the
current head of Volkswagen, the Volkswagen
00:33:25.640 --> 00:33:29.730
brand, which is Herbert Dress, who came
in from BMW. So that's great. That's
00:33:29.730 --> 00:33:33.700
great. They're actually doing something.
The question is just, what are they doing?
00:33:33.700 --> 00:33:38.330
Because we never get any feedback.
So, I don't know. I have no clue what
00:33:38.330 --> 00:33:41.900
they're doing. You know, I'm in good
contact with nearly everybody, but they
00:33:41.900 --> 00:33:46.350
actually only rang me once and the only
thing they asked was: “Do you have Felix
00:33:46.350 --> 00:33:49.220
Domke's phone number?”
laughter
00:33:49.220 --> 00:33:52.930
Perhaps Felix knows more. Perhaps, he's
able to tell us more about what they're
00:33:52.930 --> 00:33:56.890
doing. The good thing is other people are
doing something. That's the court of Mayo,
00:33:56.890 --> 00:34:00.960
which is in Ireland, very nice place. You
should go and visit it. And they have the
00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:05.760
same legal mechanism as they have in the
States. So they have the capability to
00:34:05.760 --> 00:34:11.930
order somebody to produce documents to
clarify the case, so in this case the
00:34:11.930 --> 00:34:18.460
judge, Ms. Devins, has ordered Volkswagen
to produce documents. And they hate this.
00:34:18.460 --> 00:34:24.210
They were furious. So what happened, is,
the next time they had a meeting, which
00:34:24.210 --> 00:34:29.668
was in September of this year, the legal
representative told the court that this is
00:34:29.668 --> 00:34:36.279
completely inappropriate and unfair. “I
did not bring anyone except for myself
00:34:36.279 --> 00:34:40.480
because we think you do not have
jurisdiction in the case.” Now, it's an
00:34:40.480 --> 00:34:45.349
Irish lady that has bought a Volkswagen
from an Irish dealer, but Volkswagen is
00:34:45.349 --> 00:34:51.099
sure they don't have any legal beef in
this, right? So, I don't know what they're
00:34:51.099 --> 00:34:58.189
thinking. And to actually add, you know,
to this, they walked out of the court. So
00:34:58.189 --> 00:35:02.999
in protest, the representatives of
Volkswagen, their lawyers walked out of
00:35:02.999 --> 00:35:09.619
the court. So, the thing is, the judge is
a very cool lady and she said, she would
00:35:09.619 --> 00:35:17.029
continue “without Hamlet”, referring
to the play, and said, the Volkswagen
00:35:17.029 --> 00:35:25.879
legal team had a spectacular walk-out.
That has not happened to a court before.
00:35:25.879 --> 00:35:30.249
And the other thing is, so the Irish
people are trying to help the case a bit
00:35:30.249 --> 00:35:34.739
and the States' people are trying the
same. They have a gentleman called
00:35:34.739 --> 00:35:40.619
Mr. Liang who has worked long time for
Volkswagen. First in Germany and then in
00:35:40.619 --> 00:35:45.679
the States. And he is now basically the
principal witness. They made a deal with
00:35:45.679 --> 00:35:51.930
him and said, you know, “We will limit
the cost you will have or the time even in
00:35:51.930 --> 00:35:57.779
jail that you have to do if you cooperate
with us”. And the thing boxed here in
00:35:57.779 --> 00:36:01.690
red is: “Defendant shall cooperate fully
with the government, and any other law
00:36:01.690 --> 00:36:05.549
enforcement agency, including but not
limited to the Staatsanwaltschaft
00:36:05.549 --> 00:36:08.369
Braunschweig in Germany”, right?
00:36:08.369 --> 00:36:11.579
applause
00:36:11.579 --> 00:36:17.329
So, the Americans are actually bringing
the witness to Braunschweig and I have not
00:36:17.329 --> 00:36:21.650
heard whether they even had a chat with
him. At least there's nothing publicly
00:36:21.650 --> 00:36:30.970
known. All right. Bonus round for the last
5 minutes. Somebody on reddit actually
00:36:30.970 --> 00:36:38.029
managed to get his car bought back. Cool.
Super. He received $21,000 for it. The
00:36:38.029 --> 00:36:42.999
thing is, the buyback terms say, it
is okay if your car has damages...
00:36:42.999 --> 00:36:45.090
laughter
00:36:45.090 --> 00:36:49.880
... because they actually want to make
sure that somebody who has, you know, a
00:36:49.880 --> 00:36:53.749
scratch or so, it doesn't get so
complicated, right? So the buyback process
00:36:53.749 --> 00:36:57.710
actually just goes on, like, what car is
it, what did it cost initially and what
00:36:57.710 --> 00:37:01.979
is the milage, and, you know, we know
about the milage now. So, this car
00:37:01.979 --> 00:37:06.199
apparently had some damage and the guy
thought: “You know, it's damaged anyway.
00:37:06.199 --> 00:37:08.409
All the front parts...
00:37:08.409 --> 00:37:10.349
laughter
00:37:10.349 --> 00:37:16.789
applause
00:37:16.789 --> 00:37:20.940
All the front parts would be pretty good
use for my friend who has a Volkswagen and
00:37:20.940 --> 00:37:25.279
wants to keep it. So, you know, I just
removed them.” Now the interesting thing
00:37:25.279 --> 00:37:34.080
is, we have a company here, which has
betrayed millions of its customers, more
00:37:34.080 --> 00:37:39.070
than half a million in the States and …
Oops, there's a slide missing. That's not
00:37:39.070 --> 00:37:45.619
good. Sorry. I hope this wasn't deleted by
our friends who set up the video, which
00:37:45.619 --> 00:37:52.880
was a difficult thing at the beginning.
Ohh no, it's deleted. That's not very
00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:56.800
nice. Ohh, it's moved there. Okay, let's
use this one. It actually shouldn't be
00:37:56.800 --> 00:38:08.890
there. It's the second to last slide.
Yay. So this is from a meeting of this
00:38:08.890 --> 00:38:14.480
settlement class. I'm reading it.
00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:16.670
laughter
00:38:16.670 --> 00:38:26.360
applause
00:38:26.360 --> 00:38:31.880
“At least one owner went so far as to
strip the car of almost every removable
00:38:31.880 --> 00:38:34.780
part, including seats, doors,
a radio, and even the air bag.”
00:38:34.780 --> 00:38:36.489
laughter
00:38:36.489 --> 00:38:41.960
Now remember. That company has actually
betrayed half a million people in the
00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:47.220
States, a few million worldwide. They've
made people pay way more for a car which
00:38:47.220 --> 00:38:52.829
is dirty, because they believed it was
clean, and now there's five people who
00:38:52.829 --> 00:39:01.400
stripped parts of their cars and they
complain to the judge. Okay, that's it.
00:39:01.400 --> 00:39:08.619
applause
00:39:08.619 --> 00:39:16.519
Takeaway points. I just wanted… The
takeaway points here: Everybody's
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:20.089
cheating. I only did one slide, but
please don't forget this, right? There
00:39:20.089 --> 00:39:26.210
will be much more coming out from others.
Volkswagen promises, but their actions
00:39:26.210 --> 00:39:30.780
are completely different, so please look
beyond the spin doctoring. Don't buy
00:39:30.780 --> 00:39:34.119
the Volkswagen narrative. And the other
thing is, we don't have a functional
00:39:34.119 --> 00:39:38.079
regulation in the EU. I hope, Julia Reda
and the others are able to fix it, but
00:39:38.079 --> 00:39:41.220
this will be a really tough task.
Okay. Thank you very much.
00:39:41.220 --> 00:39:45.280
applause
00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:50.500
postroll music
00:39:50.500 --> 00:40:10.000
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