More than diesel or unleaded, two words power every BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen sold around the world: “German engineering.” They are a promise of performance and reliability that double as the bedrock of Europe’s most important economy, and consumers are suddenly questioning if they mean what they used to. A widening emissions scandal at Volkswagen — an engineering feat of a more sinister kind, in which cars were wired to deceive air pollution tests — has now cost the company’s top executive his job. It has enraged customers and devastated the company’s stock price. Analysts are warning the fallout could infect ... (full story)