German car industry rocked by vote-rigging in auto prize

ADAC managing director Karl Obermair frowns during a news conference at headquarter in Munich January 20, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Germany's ADAC car club, Europe's largest and most influential, said on Monday revelations it had falsified results of its annual car award struck at the core of its credibility and critics raised questions about its car safety tests.

Volkswagen said it was considering giving back the award.

ADAC communications director Michael Ramstetter resigned in disgrace after conceding he manipulated the results of the car club's coveted "Yellow Angel" award for Germany's favorite car, which was won last week by the Volkswagen Golf model.

"We've got our work cut out for us to repair the tarnished reputation," said ADAC managing director Karl Obermair, who called Ramstetter's actions "an inexcusable mistake".

"We're very sorry," added Obermair, personally humiliated himself after he initially scolded media for reporting doubts about ADAC's vote-counting. "This strikes at the very core of our existence. Our goal is to restore our credibility."

ADAC has over 18 million members. Its Yellow Angel award can give a fillip to sales in a competitive domestic market.

ADAC conceded that Ramstetter, the editor of ADAC's popular "ADAC Motorwelt" magazine that calls itself Europe's biggest monthly with 18 million readers, massively inflated the results of votes, saying 34,299 motorists had voted for the Golf as Germany's favorite car when it had only been 3,409 votes.

ADAC, normally a bastion of integrity whose car test reports are followed closely in a country with a deep affinity for its automobiles, said the order of the results was not tampered with - only the total number of votes.

But that caveat did little to calm the storm of protest in Germany over the vote-rigging at what is usually ranked as one of the country's most respected institutions alongside the Bundesbank and the consumer watchdog Stiftung Warentest.

ADAC has long wielded considerable influence in Germany. It coined the slogan "Freie Fahrt fuer freie Buerger" (Free travel for free citizens) that long served as a rallying cry against introducing a speed limit on motorways.

German carmakers demand clarity

The ADAC affair recalled another scandal about German car testing in 1997 when a Swedish motor magazine found Mercedes' A-Class tended to flip while undergoing its "elk test", or evasive maneuver test. German magazines did not detect the flaw. Mercedes first declined to comment but later recalled the cars to retrofit added safety features.

German carmakers were also shaken up by the revelations and reverberations from the vote-rigging at ADAC over a prize that might be prestigious in Germany but of minor relevance abroad.

Daimler, maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury automobiles demanded speedy clarification from ADAC. "We expect that ADAC will, in its own interest, comprehensively investigate this matter and then inform the general public," a Daimler spokeswoman said.

A Germany-based spokesman for Ford said: "The prize has a big reputation. One should be able to assume that finding a winner is done in a manner which is above board."