The third quarter of 2015 was an essentially unfortunate year for several global customers of the automotive titan, Volkswagen, as the latter, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, sold 11 million automobile units worldwide after flouting the Clean Air Act.
The agency had found that the German automaker had intentionally programmed Turbocharged Direct Injection (TDI) diesel engines to activate nitrous oxide (NOX) emission controls only during the emissions testing.
The German automaker later pleaded guilty to these charges and revealed that it had indeed used such a “defeat device” to cheat the environmental test that every automobile product undergoes before their launch. The company had paid USD 4.3 billion in penalties and was ordered to roll back millions of related units worldwide, including from the US, Europe, and India. The case also resulted in several arrests. The number of premature deaths that would occur due to the damage these units caused is being estimated at several thousands of people across the world.
And just when Volkswagen’s future was predicted to be doomed, it made a stunning recovery in 2016 – and further in 2017. How did the failing company survive scandal and revive its corporate reputation?