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| The hidden extra on every Volkswagen |
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The former Volkswagen labour boss, Klaus Volkert, is about to be banged up for nearly three years for using his influence to obtain sex and bribes. And the company’s former personnel chief, Klaus-Joachim Gebauer, has received a suspended sentence for handing over customers’ hard-earned money for that purpose.
Every Volkswagen sold in the past few years has cost a few cents more thanks to the antics of these two men, who between them pissed away some three million dollars on booze, sex and riotous living.
If Volkswagen had any decency, it would issue a public apology and consider some form of reparation. Maybe it could donate an equivalent sum to aid famine victims in Africa; at least those few extra cents you paid for your car would eventually serve a good cause.
If Kevin Rudd can apologise to the Aborigines, the least Volkswagen can do is say sorry to you and me.
Meanwhile from the comfort and sanctity of old age, Ferdinand Piech, the former Volkswagen CEO, and the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, denies all knowledge of the slush fund. “He’s lying,” claims Volkert. There were “only a few things” Piech did not know, said 65-year-old Volkert, who is appealing his jail term.
Surely I can’t be blamed for thinking that this sleazy scandal was simply a well-calculated publicity stunt?! I would’ve thought that such revelations would be hugely detrimental to the Volkswagen reputation, yet it’s clearly had the reverse effect. It can’t be a coincidence that alongside these sensational revelations, Volkswagen also gleefully reveal record January sales - an 11 per cent increase on the same month last year! It’s enough to put me off the new Tiguan, if not anyone else…
Alex Frankie | 27 Feb 08 - 16:55