vw dieselgate - a closure?

I have been wondering how this is going to end. US regulators clearly want to stick it to the German company to set an example. I am sure if this is one of the US big three, they would have handled the matter with kid's gloves. Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of VW on this blatant deception, and I don't believe for a moment, that the high level management is ignorant as the company claimed.

"A day before a court-imposed deadline, VW has reportedly developed a fix for Dieselgate acceptable to US authorities. By reaching an agreement, Volkswagen would avoid a trial with the US federal court.

According to a report by German newspaper "Die Welt," Volkswagen has reached a deal with American authorities to settle a legal case in US federal court sparked by the Dieselgate scandal.
As part of the agreement, VW would pay each customer affected by the carmaker's use of emissions test cheating software $5,000 (4,400 euros), in addition to paying to repair their vehicles, according to sources close to the negotiations."

In my view, $5000 compensation to each customer is a very stiff penalty. For full disclosure, I love the Vanagon Westfalia camper, and a 1978 bay window T2 bus that I owned once. I have little love for the later crops of VW products, however.

Here is the full article on Deutsche Welle.

Also on a related news, the VW executives has no intention of foregoing their annual bonus this year. Sound familiar to the US financial meltdown? There is a Chinese proverb 天下烏鴉一般黑 - "all crows are just as black everywhere in the world"

"Weekly German magazine "Der Spiegel" has reported top Volkswagen executives have no intention of foregoing their annual bonuses this year. At the same time, they've prescribed belt-tightening for the workforce."

While I like Germany and see it as the brightest spot in the EU, I am amazed one of the world's most progressive countries still has this outdated and irrelevant law against any German from insulting foreign leaders. I have been wanting to visit Turkey but with the events of the country in recent years - no thanks.

Also very similar to the VW diesel emission cheat, news just broke that Mitsubishi cheated on fuel efficiency data in Japan with their sub-sub-compact cars in Japan which are also branded as Nissan. Nissan discovered their own test result fell short of what Mitsubishi's report claimed. Surprised?