NYTimes analysis: Volkswagen corporate culture enabled unlawful behavior.

The New York Times (12/14, Ewing, Bowley, Subscription Publication, 11.64M) reports Volkswagen’s “cutthroat and insular” corporate culture “is coming under scrutiny as potentially enabling...lawbreaking behavior,” according to experts and current and former employees. One high-level Volkswagen executive described management style as: “Be aggressive at all times.” The company stresses a lack of open criticism or admission of flaws and absolute obedience. The Times suggests that this aggressive corporate culture is in part responsible for the recent emissions fraud scandal.

        VW’s sales likely to decline for first time since 2014. The AP (12/11) reported that Volkswagen’s global sales declined 2.2 percent year over in November, from 852,900 vehicles in November 2014 to 833,700 last month, the company said on Friday. US sales dropped 15.2 percent to 45,300 units, and there were even bigger drop offs in Brazil and Russia, but sales were up 2.6 percent to 270,400 units in western Europe and up 5.5 percent to 329,000 in China. Group deliveries declined 1.7 percent to close to 9.1 million units over the first 11 months of 2014, compared to 9.26 million during the same period in 2014.

        Bloomberg News (12/11, Behrmann, 3.4M) reported that deliveries of the VW brand are declining for the first time since 2004, as consumers move away from the Passat sedans and Golf hatchbacks “tainted” by the emissions cheating scandal. Sales fell during the first 11 months of 2015 4.5 percent to 5.34 million vehicles, and Juergen Stackmann, the VW brand’s sales chief, doesn’t expect to be able to surpass last year’s 6.12 million automobiles.