Unless you’ve been climbing Mount Everest or spending time in an isolation tank, you have been painfully and repeatedly made aware of the current issues at Volkswagen. It’s early in the feeding frenzy, but as we step through the debris and past the first of what will likely become a steady stream of management exits, which includes the automaker’s quality control chief this week, there’s a sobering fallout that should have us all paying attention.

The financial correspondent at CBS focused on the early effects, and they’re staggering:
• The CEO has resigned.
• An exodus of key talent and management is anticipated.
• There was a precipitous drop in the stock as the market reacted.
• Volkswagen tried to calm the concerns of product owners and dealerships by setting aside billions of dollars to address regulatory fines, class action judgments from affected stakeholders, and the immediate and certain need to retrofit existing vehicles. There will be particular emphasis on assuring existing owners that they don’t own an unmarketable and illegal paperweight.

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