VW Defeat Device Emissions Scam is a 'One-Off' says SMMT boss

VW Defeat Device Emissions Scam is a ‘One-Off’ says SMMT boss

Mike Hawes, Chief Executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), says the VW Emissions scam is a ‘one-off’ incident and atypical.

With the Volkswagen Defeat Device scandal rumbling on – and likely to take years to resolve – the question on everyone’s lips is: How many other car makers are scamming emission tests?

It’s hard to believe that only VW are culpable, and that only VW has developed software that can turn on full emissions controls during official tests and turn them off in the real world. especially as we know the range of tricks and ruses all car makers use to get the very best emissions tests results.

But Mike Hawes, Chief Executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), has declared that the VW Defeat Device Scam is actually a one-off’ incident, and that it doesn’t mean other car makers are doing the same. He told The Guardian:

The actions of one company should not be taken to stand for the whole industry. There is no evidence to suggest this is an industry-wide issue. [This is] one instance of cheating.

Hawes went on to defend the Motor Industry’s record, claiming it had made huge progress in cutting pollution over the years, and that it was helping save the world from climate change by the massive reduction in CO2 emissions in recent years (a point which seems an irrelevance).

It’s a robust defence of the Motor Industry from Hawes (it’s his job), but we have to remember that this is the man who told us car makers couldn’t be scamming emissions test in Europe because they were independently witnessed, just days before VW revealed that’s exactly what they were doing.