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Dieselgate: Volkswagen offers German buyers $1.34 billion in compensation

Volkswagen has offered €830 million (AU$1.34 billion) in compensation to German vehicle buyers affected by its 2015 emissions scandal.


As reported by Reuters, the offer comes after the Volkswagen Group – parent company for Audi, Skoda, and Porsche – failed to reach an agreement during negotiations with German consumer association, VZBZ.

Volkswagen is now looking to settle with German customers directly, extending the offer to those who registered for compensation through the VZBZ.

The carmaker claims negotiations fell through due to exorbitant legal fees passed on onto it by the VZBZ – allegedly totalling €50 million (AU$80.6 million).

However, the VZBZ refutes the claim, stating negotiations failed due to the carmaker’s inability to provide sufficient reparations for consumers.

Known as Dieselgate, Volkswagen’s emissions scandal saw it admit to manipulating the software of its turbo-diesel engines to reduce emissions during test conditions.

Once off the test bench, cars fitted with the software 'defeat device' would emit significantly more NOx.

 

 

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The software affected approximately 11 million cars sold between 2009 and 2015 worldwide.

Volkswagen’s German settlement offer is not the first since the emissions scandal surfaced.

The company was fined $125 million by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) late in 2019, and Canada fined it $218 million earlier this year.

In 2016, Volkswagen agreed to a $20 billion compensation scheme in the USA. In 2018, the marque was charged $1.5 billion by German courts, and settled another $127 million in Australia the following year.

The VZBZ says it will continue to push for a settlement on its terms via the German court system.

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