I wish VW would bring the Crafter to our shores. It is a Sprinter, so maybe they can offer a lower price than MB/FL. Software aside, here in Texas, unless someone is obviously rolling coal when the OBD II says the exhaust is clean (which means a custom tune), they are not going to do air quality tests on a vehicle.
As for the knock to rep, I don't see this affecting sales. I know in Austin, VWs are either the #1 seller or #2 behind the little Mazdas, and I doubt this is going to change anytime soon, just because of the trend to not buy US for style reasons (and then wonder where one's job went.)