Stock price could be the least of VAG's worries.
Consider these possibilities:
- tidal wave of owners demanding that VAG buy back their cars (this is startling already, though I admit the newspaper report I read did not cite a source for that info).
- class action suit by US dealers, many of which may see crippling drops in sales over the bad press (I can see this easily).
- class action by owners of affected cars for loss of resale value.
What I wonder about is where the European Union government is on this. They also have strict emissions standards, which we can presume VW also faked out -- but I have yet to see a peep about what they are saying on the subject.
Don't forget, there are millions of VAG cars across all model lines (incl Audi) with any number of diesel powertrain variants on the roads in various countries... not just the small selection we see in North America.
You can bet GM and Ford execs are laughing their brains out over this. (Unless of course they have their own dark closets that only await some light.)
I do echo the sentiment of being angry over what this may do to the image of diesel. It has taken sooooo long for us to come this far, in terms of wider market acceptance. Now VAG has just done what GM did to diesel in the 1970s/80s... but to the power of 5. Such great technology, and every time it tries to emerge some stupid/greedy/crooked auto execs stick a fork in it.