I placed tremendous trust in the Audi brand when buying a German car. It was a purchasing decision I didn't take lightly. My father served in Europe during World War II and escaped German bombs and bullets. I feared buying a German car would insult my father's service to our country.
My father didn't hold grudges, however, and encouraged me to buy an Audi Q7 because he thought it would serve me and my business well.
Despite having only a fourth grade education, my father recognized the power of brands to shape perceptions of companies who sell them, and consumers who buy them. That's why I'm so disappointed in Audi's parent company, Volkswagen.
VW, a top-selling automaker known for its German engineering, clean-diesel technology and strong market share since 1937, cheated emissions testing using software in 11 million vehicles with small diesel engines worldwide. By recognizing when the vehicles were undergoing emissions testing, performance was modified by the software.
After denying the cheat software's use for over a year, VW finally acknowledged its mistake. VW has been unable to halt the flow of bad news since mid-September. This week, VW is reeling over new accusations of large diesel engine emissions cheating, further spooking investors and intensifying regulatory pressure.
Despite more denials, the car company halted sales of seven large engine models in the U.S. and Canada, widening a scandal that already had forced the ouster of a CEO and prompted investigations and lawsuits across the globe. Larger diesel engine cheating tarnishes its prestigious Porsche and Audi brands too. For those who once admired these VW brands, it's a painful breach of trust even for those who are less environmentally conscious consumers.
The EPA ordered VW to fix the cars at its own expense, plus the company also faces billions in fines. Worse, VW could experience catastrophic, multi-generational brand damage if it doesn't handle this crisis of consumer confidence properly.
VW executives simply drove their company culture beyond the legal limit and got their brands rear-ended for it. It's vital for VW to reroute where their company is heading and restore such proud brands. To drive the brand cultural change necessary to do so, I offer this driving lesson for VW to put this crisis in the rear view mirror.
1. Put the top down: VW's CEO has already resigned. Other responsible executives must too.
2. Get inside and clean the interior: Examine how your corporate culture could embrace such illegality and change it.
3. Step on the brake: Stop the denials. Consumers demand authenticity and transparency today.
4. Adjust your mirrors and put on your seat belt: Look in the mirror and see how customers and media view your actions, and strap in because the ride will likely get more dangerous if you fail to adjust.
5. Start your engine, shift into gear: Do what Germans do best and engineer an efficient solution to the recall problem and put it in motion. Fast.
6. Tune in the channel, turn up the volume: VW cannot apologize and communicate enough to its customers and dealers. Share any and all progress being made.
7. Drive aggressively: Drive the organization to restore its cultural values and empower dealers to repair all vehicles as fast as if they were driving a Porsche on the Autobahn.
8. Take the high road and please, no short cuts: Public confidence in your brand is suddenly fragile. Integrity and quality are now more important than ever. Another large-scale scandal or recall will be catastrophic even if it's unrelated to the illegal emissions debacle.
9. Check the dashboard for warnings: Monitor social and traditional media activity, and track customer and prospect perceptions to gain insights that inform brand communications messaging.
10. Drive it home: Keep apologizing and make amends by rewarding customers who stay loyal with trade-in incentives to offset the lower resale value of effected models. Handle this recall crisis efficiently and use this incident as fuel to advance green vehicle technology across your divisions.
German engineering got VW into this predicament. Only German ingenuity and integrity can bring VW out of it.
Top photo: Stephen Rosa in front of his Audi Q7. Bottom photo: Stephen Rosa and his 9-year-old son Stevie make a statement about Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal. Photo Credit: Stephanie Alvarez Ewens.
This post is part of a "Corporate Skullduggery" series produced by The Huffington Post, in conjunction with the U.N.'s 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris (Nov. 30-Dec. 11), aka the climate-change conference. The series will put a spotlight on businesses that have actively tried to mislead the public about the dangers of climate change or about their own contributions to rising temperatures. To view the entire series, visit here.