VW may be the dominant car company in China and Europe, but it has struggled to get market share in the U.S.  However, sales of its cars flattened  over the last year in the America which the manufacture considered progress. Then, yesterday, the company recalled approximately 482,000 of its diesel powered cars.  The brief improvement in VW’s fortunes in America will be ruined by what The New York Times described as “cheating”.

Cars with diesel engines have been the strength of VW’s marketing campaign in the US.  Diesel engines usually last longer than traditional gas powered ones. Fitted properly with turbo chargers, they are also fast. Clean diesel engines boast high fuel efficiency. Every one of those claims has been ruined by as the US government accused VW of installing special features on the engines which masked poor performance

.The Detroit News described the depth of the problem:

Volkswagen AG deliberately evaded federal emissions requirements in nearly a half-million diesel cars in the U.S. since 2009 by writing vehicle software to only activate anti-pollution controls during testing, regulators said Friday.

The device allowed the German automaker to evade requirements in selling 482,000 diesel 2009-2015 Volkswagen Jetta, Passat, Sportwagen, Beetle and Audi A3 cars with 2.0-liter engines, and let them to emit 10 to 40 times allowable pollution, environmental officials allege. That action, they said, is illegal and a public health threat.

Reuters went so far as to forecast the debacle could cost VW $18 billion in penalties, based on comments by an EPA official

The only recent analog is the false claims about engine efficiency made by South Korea’s Hyundai and sister company Kia in 2012. This recall covered 900,000 cars. It is generally considered to have set back sales of their vehicles for a years, or longer. The brands had posted particularly strong sales compared to the overall U.S. market in the years before the disaster.

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VW’s sales fell 8% in August which was part of a long term erosion of its market share. Its performance would have been worse if not for new versions of its highly rewarded Golf. VW counted solely on the “2015 Motor Trend Car of the Year” for sales improvement . That accolade no longer makes any difference.

VW is dead in the water in America.

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