I read that piece, Mike. I could be wrong, but I still think that the whole scandal originated with Ferdinand Piech. Piech was exactly the kind of manager that could get the company into hot water like this. His management style (and orders to his subordinates and engineers) was to basically accomplish something any way you can, legal or not...either do it, and bend the rules if you have to, or find employment somewhere else. Bob Lutz writes about the time he sat next to Piech at a dinner for auto executives. Lutz remarked to Piech about how much better the latest VWs he saw looked in terms of fit/finish and panel-gaps. Piech answered........"So, Bob, you like those results, Eh?" Lutz asked him how it was done so quickly. Piech went on to say that he called all of his top managers and engineers together one day, told them all that he was tired of looking at sloppy workmanship, and told them that they had six weeks to start producing better-assembled vehicles or turn in their resignations. Lutz, of course, went on to say that he simply could not run GM that way...it was far too brutal. GM, of course, DID end up making major improvements in their vehicles.....but not by that method.
I strongly suspect that's what happened at VW.......Piech probably told his diesel engineers to meet American and European emission standards any way possible, even of they had to fudge some figures or bend the rules. That also might (?) account for the fact that VW TDI diesels did not require the use of the periodic urea-solution refills that the larger Mercedes and BMW Bluetec diesels did.
The rest, of course, is history.
