Volkswagen Tells Regulators To Lessen Fines Because They're Too Big To Fail

Mar. 10, 2016 6:15 AM ET by Gabe Beita Kiser / 21 Comments

VW executives would walk away while laboring employees would pay the price.

Volkswagen is pulling a move out of the Wall Street bank playbook in regards to its Dieselgate headache by making a very public announcement that layoffs could come if the company is fined big bucks for its lyin' and cheatin' diesels. In other words, they are trying to tell European and American governments that they are too big to fail, or too big to be fined steeply due to the fact that it would do nothing but hurt many of their blameless employees.

No official number has been mentioned for the fine that VW will pay, but estimates vary from $18 billion to upwards of $48 billion. Despite his environmental-friendly ways of doing business, Elon Musk and other clean-energy groups have sided with Volkswagen on the issue saying that the penalty should be constructive for both VW and the general public. They suggested working out a deal between VW and US regulators to roll out more electric cars, some of which may be built in the US. This would provide a double dose of good by stimulating the economy and putting more EVs on the road. The news comes as the feds have narrowed in on 17 VW employees that they will investigate as potential masterminds behind the scandal.

We'll likely have to wait until Volkswagen's 2015 financial report comes out to know just how bad dieselgate will affect the company.