Ecological awareness of investors and customers: the case of the Volkswagen Group and the Dieselgate affair

Sa？etak The Dieselgate affair is linked to the illegal activities of the Volkswagen Group, which involved the deception of car buyers and the concealment of the actual results of the level of harmful gases discharges in diesel cars using computer programs. Although the Volkswagen group has been using these illegal activities for a long time, they were only discovered in September 2015. Through selected statistical methods the paper examines the Dieselgate affair disclosure impact on the behaviour of the Volkswagen Group investors and customers. It is assumed that investors and customers possess ecological awareness and that the selected Volkswagen Group business performance indicators should have reflected that. The research demonstrated that the Dieselgate affair has had a major impact on the decline of the Volkswagen Group regular and privileged shares value. On the other hand, the Dieselgate affair did not have a significant negative impact on Volkswagen Group vehicles sales. Indeed, after a short adjustment period, the Volkswagen Group continued to increase vehicle sales even after the disclosure of the Dieselgate affair