The FT was speaking metaphorically, of course. Martin Winterkorn is German, after all, not Japanese.

A Japanese businessman in a similar circumstance would have his intestines on the floor by now.

An Innocent Crime?

Volkswagen supplies motor vehicles to the world – millions of machines that work at least as well as any other.

We have one of its small diesel pickup trucks at the ranch in Argentina. It serves us well.

Volkswagen employs 600,000 engineers, machinists, accountants, metallurgists… and hundreds of other métiers… all gainfully working in the modern economy.

And judging from its revenues, the company is doing as much to make the world a better place as practically any other enterprise in the world.

Or perhaps not… Yesterday, Mr. Winterkorn resigned, after the company was caught rigging emissions tests.