Volkswagen faced over $18 billion in fines and potential criminal action against its executives for its manipulation of emissions tests on its diesel-engine vehicles. With charges in the U.S. being much more severe, Volkswagen will need to “negotiate very hard in Europe where the scale of their violations are not as large,” said PVMI Director John Paul MacDuffie in Knowledge@Wharton.
Nevertheless, for regulators everywhere, the violation is a wake-up call to reevaluate current testing procedures and compliance standards.