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More German automakers may be afoul of US emission standards

Volkswagen has plenty of smoke to share, and that may mean fire for other German automakers that make diesel vehicles, says Automotive News. Earlier this month, European Federation for Transport and Environment said that BMW, Daimler's Mercedes-Benz and General Motor's Opel division are among other automakers that may have equipped their vehicles' diesel engines with similar software as VW's. That software was found to reduce emissions while a car is being tested for emissions and shuts down emissions-control systems during normal use. The European environmental group used data from the International Council on Clean Transportation. Automotive News notes that the European environmental group put out its own report earlier this month, before the VW scandal broke loose, but the report was pretty much overlooked. Now, VW is under fire after it was discovered that 2.0-liter diesel engines in the VW Jetta and Golf, and Audi A3, may be programmed to game the emissions system. VW sold almost a half-million diesel vehicles in the US during the past six years. Both BMW and Mercedes-Benz told Automotive News that the issue that befell VW doesn't apply to their diesel vehicles. Earlier this week, Volkswagen admitted its car ran the sneaky software, while the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has started a probe on the company. VW is setting aside more than $7 billion to pay for the alleged violations. Meanwhile, US taxpayers may have spent as much as $51 million a year to pay for subsidies related to VW's diesel vehicle sales in 2009 alone, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Investors storm Volkswagen with $9 billion in lawsuits

Volkswagen's investors are latest group to take up pitchforks against the embattled automaker, and they're seeking $9 billion in damages, Reuters reports. The investor lawsuits were filed in a court in Braunschweig, Germany, near Volkswagen's Wolfsburg headquarters. On Monday, the first business day following the anniversary of the emissions revelations, the court received 750 lawsuits alone. All told, about 1,400 lawsuits have been filed. The largest single claim totals $3.7 billion and was filed more than six months ago. The lawsuits stem from complaints that Volkswagen didn't divulge information on the cheating software to investors quickly enough. Volkswagen has said that it hasn't broken any capital market laws. The $21.5 billion the company set aside to weather the storm may not be enough. The consumer fix is estimated to run the company $14.7 billion, either through buybacks or a fix that still seems unclear. In addition to the lawsuits, Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller confirmed that Audi boss Rupert Stadler is under investigation regarding the scandal. Mueller refused to give further details, but this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Audi has admitted that its 3.0-liter V6 was equipped with the same emissions-cheating software as the 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesels. Stefan Knirsch, Audi's head of development, has been suspended as part of the overall investigation. Knirsch took over duties after his predecessor quit. Knisch was previously head of engine development at Audi. Related Video: News Source: Reuters Green Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Audi Volkswagen Emissions Diesel Vehicles vw diesel scandal

BMW, Ferrari, VW cars use tungsten mined by terrorists

Bloomberg Markets is reporting that BMW, Volkswagen and Ferrari have been using tungsten ore sourced from Columbia's FARC rebel terrorists. The extensive story focuses on Columbia's illegal mining trade and calls into question the provenance of the rare ore that is used not only in crankshaft parts production, but is also found in the world's computing and telecommunications industry for use in screens.
The ore is mined by the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army), and exported to Pennsylvania, where it is refined. The refined ore is then sent over to Austria, where a company called Plansee turns it into a finished product. Now, it's important to note that we aren't talking about the world's supply of tungsten here. In 2012, Plansee's American refinery purchased 93.2 metric tons of tungsten, valued at $1.8 million. That's peanuts, with the entire Colombian tungsten mining industry producing just one percent of the world's supplies.
That doesn't make indirectly supporting FARC any more acceptable, though. BMW, VW and Ferrari are all committed to not accepting mineral supplies from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also in the grips of a guerrilla insurrection funded, in part, by illegal mining. The same commitment would figure to extend to Colombian mining, but as BMW points out, it's difficult for a multi-national manufacturer to know where every item in its supply chain comes from. A company spokesperson says as much, telling Bloomberg, "These few grams out of the billions of tons of raw materials passing through the BMW supply chain are of no practical relevance."