18 billion in fines? and where will that money go? It goes to the EPA? Sounds like a pretty good shakedown to me. Make a law that makes it about impossible to stay profitable and then fine them when they break it. The EPA doesn't give a shit about clean air, they just want to collect fines. Bout the equivalent of a massive meter maid.
VW has always been the highest-cost producer. They supplant meeting emission standards with paying their bourgeois union the highest wage in the industry while producing a german Yugo. I love the irony. I hope they burn to the ground.