VW: the price of being earnest

Volkswagen has made the wrong kind of headlines lately – a creeping takeover by Porsche, an absurd share price, and the apparently related suicide of Adolf Merckle, the German billionaire. But the German automaker’s recent sales figures are proof that the global slump is separating the sheep from the goats in the car industry. Volkswagen managed to sell more cars worldwide last year than in 2007, no small feat by itself. It raised its market share in the US, and now sells almost as many cars in...