Faster, Higher, Farther: How One of the World’s Largest Automakers Committed a Massive and Stunning Fraud

Faster, Higher, Farther by Jack Ewing exposes the genesis, escalation, and aftermath of the Volkswagen emissions scandal through the lens of corporate ambition, engineering legacy, and the interplay of power among dynasties. Ewing weaves together industrial history, technical intrigue, and human drama to reveal how a company built on engineering pride and postwar renewal orchestrated a calculated deception with global consequences.

From the Nazi People’s Car to Global Powerhouse

Volkswagen emerges in 1937 as a project of the Nazi labor front, intended to deliver affordable mobility to German workers while advancing the regime’s broader ambitions. Ferdinand Porsche’s design bureau gives shape to the “people’s car,” a vehicle both functional and symbolic. The factory at Wolfsburg, sited for strategic logistical advantage, grows rapidly into an industrial behemoth. As Hitler lays the foundation stone, he frames the Volkswagenwerk as the promise of a modern Germany, yet war diverts production to military vehicles and armaments. The company’s early operations rely on forced labor, drawing prisoners from across occupied Europe. In the postwar wreckage, British occupation authorities preserve the factory from dismantling and direct its conversion back to civilian production. Ivan Hirst, a resourceful British officer, galvanizes recovery, scrounging materials and establishing new systems for labor and quality. The Beetle, shaped by the war’s technical lessons and postwar necessity, quickly transforms into an emblem of recovery and prosperity.

Family Dynasties and Corporate Trajectories

The Porsche and Piëch families become the stewards of Volkswagen’s evolving destiny. Ferdinand Porsche, an engineer of restless vision, passes his passion and strategic cunning to his grandson Ferdinand Piëch. These interlocking dynasties wield decisive influence over company direction, sustaining long-term control through shareholding, management contracts, and dealership rights. Personal ambition drives the younger Piëch to technical feats and later to the highest echelons of leadership, shaping both Porsche’s racing dominance and Volkswagen’s industrial expansion. The family’s internal conflicts—fueled by rivalries, alliances, and strategic marriages—shape key corporate decisions and infuse the company’s culture with a sense of mission. In moments of transition, such as the postwar handover to German authorities and later public offerings, the families assert claims over patents, royalties, and operational control, entrenching their role in Volkswagen’s governance. This familial continuity anchors the company through decades of upheaval.

Engineering Culture and the Pursuit of Scale

Volkswagen leverages German engineering’s reputation for quality, discipline, and meticulous detail. Early advertising in the United States capitalizes on stories of factory inspectors halting shipments over minute defects, positioning the brand as the epitome of reliable craftsmanship. VW’s American campaigns—conceived by Doyle Dane Bernbach—emphasize compactness, efficiency, and iconoclastic cool. The Beetle evolves into a counterculture symbol, starring in films and adorning protest convoys. Yet, beneath the surface, management orients the company toward unrelenting growth. Executives define success by expansion into new markets, acquisition of rival brands, and sustained leadership in global sales volume. Through the latter half of the twentieth century, Volkswagen absorbs Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini, and Bugatti, assembling a portfolio of diverse automotive brands. Internal policies encourage risk-taking, rapid product development, and technical innovation. This organizational climate, forged by family ambition and external competition, incubates both creative breakthroughs and ethical vulnerabilities.

The Myth and Mechanics of Clean Diesel

The turn of the millennium presents Volkswagen with a new challenge: American consumers, skeptical of diesel engines’ emissions and noise, flock to hybrids and electric vehicles. Determined to win the U.S. market and close the gap with Toyota, VW executives commit to delivering “clean diesel” vehicles—cars capable of meeting strict U.S. emissions regulations without sacrificing power or fuel economy. Engineers face an intractable technical dilemma. The higher combustion temperatures of diesel engines generate nitrogen oxides at levels difficult to control within regulatory limits, especially under real-world driving conditions. The company pours resources into developing new emissions control technologies but struggles to reconcile laboratory success with on-road performance. As launch deadlines approach, technical leads confront unyielding pressure from upper management to produce results that match marketing promises.

The Tipping Point: Discovery and Exposure

A team of graduate students from West Virginia University, funded by a modest research grant, embark on an emissions testing project in California in 2013. Outfitted with improvised gear, the students test Volkswagen and BMW diesel vehicles under both laboratory and real-world conditions. Their data reveals an anomaly: Volkswagen diesels emit nitrogen oxides far above legal thresholds when driven outside the lab. The students’ findings, shared with regulators and non-profit researchers, prompt scrutiny from the California Air Resources Board and the Environmental Protection Agency. The evidence suggests a systemic discrepancy between reported and actual emissions, raising fundamental questions about how VW’s vehicles pass certification tests.

Defeat Devices and Systemic Deception

As regulators intensify their investigation, Volkswagen engineers face mounting pressure to explain the divergence. The reality surfaces: Volkswagen has installed software “defeat devices” in millions of vehicles. These algorithms detect when a car undergoes laboratory testing and temporarily activate full emissions controls; in ordinary driving, the systems scale back, allowing for increased performance and efficiency but emitting pollutants at levels exponentially higher than regulations allow. The defeat device strategy, initiated when technical fixes proved unworkable within cost and performance constraints, persists for years and extends across multiple product lines and global markets. VW’s internal reporting structures, insulated by secrecy and hierarchical deference, prevent timely intervention or disclosure. As outside scrutiny deepens, the truth becomes inescapable.

Global Unraveling: Financial, Legal, and Ethical Fallout

Public exposure of the emissions fraud detonates a crisis at the heart of Volkswagen. The company issues denials, delays, and partial explanations before finally conceding the full extent of the deception. Leadership shuffles ensue as high-ranking executives resign or face criminal indictment. The scale of the scandal becomes unprecedented: nearly 11 million vehicles worldwide contain the defeat device software. Governments launch investigations across Europe, North America, and Asia. Legal actions accumulate. VW sets aside tens of billions of dollars for settlements, recalls, and regulatory penalties. The company’s market value plunges, and its hard-won reputation for quality suffers severe erosion.

Regulatory agencies, spurred by the Volkswagen revelations, initiate broad reviews of emissions testing protocols and automotive compliance standards. Other manufacturers come under scrutiny, fueling a global reckoning with the gap between laboratory certification and real-world environmental performance. Consumers, policymakers, and investors demand higher standards of transparency and accountability.

The Human and Environmental Cost

Beyond legal and financial metrics, the consequences of the emissions fraud extend to public health and environmental quality. Nitrogen oxide emissions from affected vehicles contribute to smog formation, respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease, and environmental degradation. Urban centers—already burdened by air quality challenges—absorb the excess pollution, compounding risks for vulnerable populations. The scale of the violation implicates not only a corporate entity but also the systemic interaction between regulatory oversight, industrial ambition, and market demand. The scandal crystallizes the stakes of automotive innovation: engineering solutions must align with ethical standards and societal well-being.

Power, Secrecy, and the Limits of Corporate Culture

Ewing’s account traces the internal logic that enables fraud to persist within an organization of Volkswagen’s magnitude. The company’s culture—rooted in deference to authority, faith in engineering prowess, and belief in exceptionalism—fosters a dynamic where dissent and critical scrutiny become scarce. Engineers, confronted by intractable technical constraints and unyielding management expectations, justify incremental compromise until the deception scales to industrial proportions. Leadership, insulated from outside feedback, prioritizes market share, share price, and institutional prestige. The resulting collapse of trust illustrates how organizational culture can magnify risk and incentivize short-term gains over long-term stability.

Industry Impact and the Road Ahead

The fallout from the Volkswagen emissions scandal redefines the global automotive industry’s trajectory. Automakers, suppliers, and regulators accelerate investments in electric vehicles, alternative fuels, and advanced emissions technologies. Regulatory frameworks grow more stringent, requiring robust verification of real-world performance. Investors scrutinize corporate governance structures, and stakeholders demand meaningful commitments to environmental stewardship. The incident becomes a touchstone for debates over the role of business in society, the nature of leadership, and the imperatives of technological change.

Ethics, Accountability, and the Future of Mobility

Faster, Higher, Farther provides a case study in how ambition, technical excellence, and strategic vision can generate both remarkable achievement and catastrophic failure. Volkswagen’s story, as rendered by Ewing, reveals the fragile boundary between innovation and abuse of trust. The scandal’s legacy endures in new regulatory paradigms, shifting consumer expectations, and the ongoing quest for sustainable, ethical mobility solutions. Corporate leaders, engineers, and policymakers must weigh their decisions within a framework that integrates technical prowess with ethical clarity and social responsibility. The Volkswagen scandal stands as both a warning and a call to action—demanding vigilance, integrity, and commitment to public good within the evolving landscape of global industry.