mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

General Motors Had Long Suspected Volkswagen Was Cheating On Diesel Emission Standards

Bob Lutz isn’t afraid to speak and be heard. His columns in Road & Track have no problem calling out various issues from around the industry, and he’s never quiet on what Silicon Valley is doing, especially the guys and gals at Tesla.

But, Business Insider has picked up the latest on what Lutz has to say regarding the ongoing Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal. According to Lutz, General Motors had long been suspicious the German automaker was cheating to pass emissions standards.

“Our people told me that they had studied the Volkswagen products and that they could not get the hardware to perform the same way to satisfy California’s emissions standards,” Lutz stated during a radio program.

“And I asked if their people were just smarter than ours.”

Lutz stated the suspicion dated back to the years between 2001 and 2009, while he was in charge of GM’s product portfolio. Lutz and his team could never understand how Volkswagen managed to pass California’s strict standards.

The VW scandal has since rocked the company, leading to the resignation of former CEO, Martin Winterkorn, and the hiring of Kenneth Feinberg, who should sound familiar to our readers. Feinberg most recently finished handling GM’s compensation fund for ignition-switch victims. He will now reside over compensating affected Volkswagen owners.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. Let’s hear what VW thinks about GM’s ignitions., and yes, their people are smarter.

    Reply
  2. Jaguar has no problem meeting CARB standards and offers incredible actual diesel mpg results almost 20% better than the EPA ratings.

    Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel