Germans Are Too Hard on Their Automakers

Germans can be relentless at beating themselves up. When it comes to their auto industry, this tendency may be getting out of hand.

The latest scandal for German automakers started with a cover story in the respected newsweekly Der Spiegel, which suggested that Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW have operated as a cartel since the 1990s. It described how the companies formed myriad working groups to agree on common standards and specifications -- for example, to keep urea tanks for diesel engines relatively small so more space under the hood would be available for pricey extras. The urea agreement was portrayed as particularly sinister: Smaller tanks mean more pollution, because manufacturers can't force customers to come in for a change as often as necessary. Hence, it may be partly to blame for Volkswagen's emissions-manipulation disaster and for the broader problems of the diesel engine, which faces bans in some European cities.