Volkswagen: Sarcasm and doubt ahead of update on cheating inquiry

With Volkswagen's emissions-cheating scandal nearing an important milestone - the chief executive this week is expected to deliver his first public update on VW's internal investigation - some critics doubt Germany's willingness to be tough on the automaker.

Earlier this year, Volkswagen admitted to installing "defeat devices" in more than 11 million diesel vehicles so that their engines temporarily ran cleaner when being tested for pollution. The scheme, exposed by regulators in the United States, has spawned investigations and lawsuits around the world.

One of the main European investigations is being conducted by the German Transport Ministry, although there is concern about government reluctance to take on one of the country's most important companies - one that employs nearly 280,000 people in Germany and is a symbol of the nation's economic success. Cars and trucks are the nation's biggest export.

"I don't have confidence it will be a tough investigation," said Caren Lay, a leader of the Left Party, an opposition party that has been critical of VW's crisis leadership but generally supportive of the automaker because of the company's strong relationship with labour and unions.

Volkswagen has admitted that millions of its diesel cars worldwide were equipped with software that was used to cheat on emissions tests. The company is now grappling with the fallout.

At the same time, among the German public there are signs of resentment and skepticism toward the United States, where VW's cheating was exposed. Even if Volkswagen cars were programmed to conceal their emissions of harmful nitrogen oxide, that view goes, America is still the land of gas guzzlers. "There is this general notion that the US is overstating the case in order to damage one of the major competitors of the US carmakers," said Nils Stieglitz, a professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance who studies corporate strategy.

A satirical video produced recently by ZDF, a publicly funded broadcaster, captured some of this sentiment. The video begins with an announcer intoning, "We interrupt this broadcast for an official threat to autoland Germany from the United States of America."

What follows is a montage of American pickup trucks splashing through mud bogs and spewing black smoke.

©2015 The New York Times News Service