Four of the former executives of Volkswagen received prison sentences on Monday for their role in the emissions scandal that mainly turned the car market in Europe. The ruling, which was delivered after a three -year trial in Brunchewig, Germany, was another chapter in a 10 -year epic that reshaped the continent’s relationship with diesel technology.
Jeans Hadzar, who supervised the development of the diesel engine, received the harshest prison sentence for four and a half years to organize what the judges called “serious” fraud. His team installed programs that allow vehicles to identify emissions test, which temporarily increases pollution controls during inspections while operating the rest of the time.
The scandal effect extended beyond the corporate halls. Before 2015, diesel vehicles led more than half of the car market in Europe, which were marketed as gasoline alternatives. Today, this number collapsed to only 10 % of new car sales.
The entire case also accelerated in Europe’s move towards electricity. Spatial electric and hybrid vehicles are now 25 % of new car sales, while Volkswagen itself has become EV in Europe, where it sells three times the number of battery -run cars such as Tesla in April, New York Times reports.
