Ten Years Later, The Dieselgate Story Isn’t Over

It may seem like yesterday, but it’s been nearly a decade since VW‘s emissions scandal, which came to be known as Dieselgate, broke out. It caused a tidal wave that deeply affected not just the German giant, but the automotive industry as a whole, and apparently, the story ain’t over yet.

According to a new report, four former VW managers have been sentenced by the Braunschweig Regional Court in Lower Saxony, Germany, to jail. Jens Hadler, who led diesel-engine development from 2007 to 2011, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison over the sale of more than 2 million affected vehicles, while former top engineer Hanno Jelden got 2 years and 7 months for aggravated fraud due to the sale of nearly 3 million cars.

More: VW Quietly Drops US From DEI Plan To Appease Trump

At the same time, Heinz-Jacob Neusser, a former VW exec, was handed a suspended sentence of 1 year and 3 months due to his role in Dieselgate, and a lower-ranking employee, who’s only known as Thorsten D., got 1 year and 10 months, also suspended.

Still, the four convicted managers have the right to appeal, so the ruling isn’t final, but there’s slim to no chance that they’ll manage to get away with just a slap on the wrist.

According to the Daily Sabah, those four are far from the only ones in deep trouble with the German judicial system. In fact, criminal proceedings against 31 defendants are still open in Braunschweig, a spokesperson for the regional court said.

After numerous lawsuits and fines that cost the VW Group over 30 billion euros ($34 billion), the company focused on electrification, a brand new and extremely promising sector of the automotive business that, in theory, should help it turn over a new page.

So far, though, the results are less than ideal and, as already reported, the company is not in the best of shapes at the worst possible time – right when sales in China are going downhill, Donald Trump imposed crippling tariffs to imports, and the Chinese, who are way ahead on EVs, are launching a massive assault on European markets.

If the Dieselgate hadn’t happened, those $34 billion that were lost would have made VW a much stronger entity that would have been able to defend itself against any threat. Alas, what’s done is done; all that’s left now is for it to make the right decisions and hope for the best.