Final Word from Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Two weeks before the emissions-cheating scandal broke out in the U.S., Chair Winfried Vahland of Škoda Auto told HN that he doesn't understand the fear in the CR that the automobile sector might be too strong. Škoda tries to influence the Czech economy in a positive way, he said: It pays taxes, it has never made a loss, it invests into its plants on a massive scale, it educates young people, and it offers the assurance of a job. Oh, and it also cheats on emissions tests, which suddenly puts all of these other positive factors at risk. He of course didn't mention this last achievement, but Škoda announced yesterday that it made 1.2m cars with tampered diesel engines. Vahland has been in the top job at Škoda since Sept. 2010, which means that he oversaw the production of more rigged cars than the 480,000 identified by U.S. officials. Promoting him to oversee the U.S. market is not exactly the best way for VW to return confidence to the car sector. [Czech Republic Volkswagen]
Glossary of difficult words
to tamper with - to interfere with something in order to cause damage or to make unauthorized alterations;
to rig - to manage or conduct something fraudulently so as to produce a result or situation that is advantageous to a particular person.