Near the sink of my home in Abu Dhabi is a plastic bottle of dish soap.

It is the Pril brand, and beneath the name are these words:

–MULTI POWER

–AGAINST GREASE + CRUSTS

–NEW

–And at the bottom of the label, it has one more note, in smallish, white type: “German Quality”.

And right about now, German economists may be trying to tote up how much damage has been done to the country’s “brand” in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal.

Most everyone who drives a car knows about this. Volkswagen, the world’s leading car-maker by revenue, systematically and with forethought managed to rig engines in its diesel vehicles so that they would show one level of pollution and mileage while being tested, when the reality was lots more pollutants and significantly worse mileage.

Time magazine weighed in this week with this. The New York Times did their own what does this mean for Germany piece a week ago.

Last week, the New York Times did a story under the headline: What was Volkswagen thinking?

An op-ed piece in NYT was written by someone who believed the bogus VW tests and mileage numbers under the headline: Me and My Jetta: How VW Broke My Heart.

The damage is severe, and troubling, because “German Quality” was a thing.

Even here in the UAE, Germans and Germany have a reputation for doing things right.

When Emiratis get sick and want superior treatment, they invariably go to one of two places: The United States or Germany.

German cars, German engineering … it means something. And now Volkswagen and its, what, 11 million (?) rigged cars that have been spewing extra nitrogen oxide into the air for years and years, have put a significant dent in that reputation.

It is seen and felt even here, in the Gulf.

Makes you wonder if the makers of Pril — made by Henkel, whose slogan is “Excellence is our passion” — might remove the words “Germany Quality” sometime soon, because at the moment it is for suckers, not savvy consumers.