Oh I learned a lot from Dieselgate. I learned that the rules regarding NOx simply became too drastic too quickly, and I learned I must take better care of the older cars I already have since I evidently won't be buying anything new ever again.
It is like they said "OK, the are lowering the speed limits on the Interstate, from 70 to 60, to save fuel (they've done this before). Only we REALLY want to save fuel, so we are just gonna drop it to 40 MPH".
Actually, and Matt knows the figures better than I do, it would probably be more like 5 MPH. The cut was THAT MUCH, that fast.
And then VAG, MB, and BMW were "accused", likely with Bosch involved of course, of stifling new technology. Well, the reason for that was because unlike the EPA, the car companies actually know a thing or two about cars, and know a thing or two about their buying demographic. And they knew that they simply could not make this stuff available at a price point anyone could realistically afford let alone make it be reasonably reliable for the duration of the new car buyer's intended average tenure of ownership.
This dovetails in with the fact that something happened a few years ago that seemed to have gone quietly unnoticed: the gov't mandated 8 year, 80k mile, emissions compliance warranty lost much of its coverage. Why? Because when the gov't kept pushing for "cleaner", the manufacturers (all of them, there was not a single one that didn't) pushed back. They essentially said "OK, if you want us to do this, we can, but we cannot be responsible for its functioning as intended for this long period of time". So, overnight, much of that warranty coverage went away.
Ever think why warranties on new cars haven't kept going UP along with everything else, but in some cases have actually gone DOWN? Because even the manufacturers are losing faith in what they are having to build.
Volkswagen used to have a 10 year, 100k mile powertrain warranty here. Anyone remember that? I do. The 01M single handedly killed that, but today, they'd go double plus broke over epic failures like the EA888 engines and gosh-knows-what bank account emptying things on stuff like the T'reg and now that Atlas.