Ethics & Credibility in Business Communications

COM/295

October 5, 2015
Dr. Lodessa S. Washington

Ethics & Credibility in Business Communications

Volkswagen is the latest car manufacturer to be caught in the act of purposely manipulating emissions tests results in some of their vehicles. Over the years, several other manufacturers including General Motors, Ford and Honda have also been exposed for the same unethical behavior (Biesecker, 2015). In Volkswagen’s case, the long-term impact to their brand, reputation and credibility is further compounded because their cheating was actually uncovered in 2014, but the organization continued to manufacture cars with the faulty software, and intentionally withheld their trickery from consumers who thought they were buying environmentally friendly vehicles. It wasn’t until the scandal became public last month that Volkswagen finally came clean (Plungis and Hall, 2015). In the United States alone, Volkswagen will have to endure both state and federal investigations, as well as the additional scrutiny of congressional hearings, but the greatest cost Volkswagen will have to pay is the long-term impact to their brand, reputation and credibility. Volkswagen is one of the top automobile manufacturers in the world, with worldwide sales reaching 5.04 million vehicles, from January to June of this year, surpassing Toyota who regularly has held the top sales position (Harrison, 2015). The company now finds itself in the unenviable position of having to restore consumer confidence. The scandal was inadvertently discovered in 2014 when a little know clean-air group, with offices in Europe and America, suggested that the best way to for Volkswagen convince Europeans that diesel cars run clean would be to replicate emission tests in the United States. The premise was since the United States has higher