To say that Volkswagen AG has a problem on its hands would be a massive understatement. In the wake of the discovery that it purposely rigged the emissions figures for 11 million of its "clean" diesel vehicles for the past six years, many countries are anxious to get answers from VW. How much additional NOx emissions were pumped into the atmosphere all for the sake of VW's grand goal to become the biggest automaker in the world? But there's one country that's already giving VW an ultimatum, its home country of Germany.

According to Car and Driver, Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority just sent VW a letter that demands a precise plan and schedule that'll fix some 11 million "cheat code" diesel cars by October 7. Failing to come up with a solution by then will see the German government banning 2.8 million affected cars from its roads. In fact, neighboring Switzerland has already banned these affected VWs (new or used) from being sold until further notice. For its part, the US has issued a stop-sale order on new VW diesels. But think about it: if VW fails to satisfy the German government's demand for a binding plan to solve this debacle by that deadline, then wouldn't that also be punishing 2.8 million VW diesel owners for driving their own cars?