In mid-2015, Volkswagen proudly reached its goal of surpassing Toyota as the world’s largest automaker. A few months later, the EPA disclosed that Volkswagen had installed software in 11 million cars that deceived emissions-testing mechanisms. By early 2017, VW had settled with American regulators and car owners for $20 billion, with additional lawsuits still looming.


'Faster, Higher, Farther' chronicles a corporate scandal that rivals those at Enron and Lehman Brothers. Through meticulous reporting, New York Times correspondent Jack Ewing documents why VW felt compelled to install “defeat devices” in diesel vehicles that unlawfully lowered CO2 levels during emissions testing — and how the fraud was committed, covered up, and finally detected. With compelling portraits of VW’s corporate personalities and an incisive analysis of the culture that gave rise to the fraud, Faster, Higher, Farther is a briskly written account of unrivaled corporate greed.


“This will go down in history books as a great corporate scandal, . . . a rich history of a company . . . , a character study of a brilliant but deeply flawed leader, and a case study in how a corporate culture can turn toxic.”— Bethany Maclean, New York Times Book Review