Yahoo Autos Porsche R&D’s Former Chief Wolfgang Hatz Arrested in Connection with Diesel-Emissions Scandal
The Volkswagen diesel scandal first broke in the United States, but it has since occupied an ever-widening global circle. Two days ago, one of the Volkswagen Group’s most prominent research and development experts, Wolfgang Hatz, was arrested-not in America, but in Munich. That’s what several independent sources are reporting, following the lead of the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The prosecutors want to find out what Hatz knew about the “cheating devices” that enabled VW Group diesel engines to pass emissions tests in the lab while reverting to a dirtier, more polluting state of tune in the real world. Hatz, by the way, resigned from Porsche last year after being suspended in the wake of the diesel scandal.
The move signals that the diesel scandal is far from over, despite the unprecedented financial toll-approaching $30 billion-that the VW Group is footing. Quite the opposite: It appears that European courts and lawmakers are embarking on a piggyback investigatory ride, following their North American role model.
Hatz’s arrest reveals that Volkswagen’s political capital seems to have run out, despite its being partly owned by the German state of Lower Saxony. Leading up to the September 24 national election in Germany, various high-ranking politicians have said German customers deserve the same kind of financial compensation that VW’s U.S. diesel customers have received, even though emissions standards and technologies are different on the two continents and even though, in independent emissions tests, many non-German cars have fared far worse than VW Group models.
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Among VW’s executives, Wolfgang Hatz is perhaps the most quintessential car guy, and he has an affinity for racing. At BMW and Audi, he spearheaded development of high-revving performance engines. So the brands lose a champion on that front, while other high-ranking VW Group executives with suspected ties to the diesel scandal likely won’t be sleeping well for the foreseeable future.
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