Volkswagen caught cheating

In the first half of 2015, Volkswagen passed Toyota as the world's s top-selling automaker. The triumph didn't last long. On Sept. 18, the Environmental Protection Agency revealed that VW had cheated on emissions tests for hundreds of thousands of diesel cars it had marketed as "green."

It was a stunning case of corporate malfeasance. CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned, VW announced plans to recall 11 million cars globally and set aside $7 billion to pay for them. In the United States, where more than 500,000 VW cars have been recalled, several government agencies are investigating. VW's reputation was left in tatters.