A US federal judge said on Tuesday Volkswagen AG has reached an agreement for a mix of buybacks and fixes for about 80,000 polluting 3.0-litre diesel VW, Porsche and Audi vehicles as the German automaker works to put a diesel emissions cheating scandal behind it.
During a hearing in San Francisco, US district judge Charles Breyer also said German company Robert Bosch has agreed in principle to settle civil allegations made by US diesel vehicle owners. Reuters reported on Monday that the settlement was expected to be worth more than $300 million.
Judge Breyer said owners of 3.0-litre vehicles would receive “substantial compensation” for getting their vehicles fixed or repaired but said there were some remaining issues to be resolved, and set a another hearing for Thursday for an update.
Canadian market
Separately it was announced that Volkswagen had agreed to spend up to $2.1 billion Canadian dollars to buy back or fix 105,000 polluting diesels and compensate owners in Canada. In June, Volkswagen agreed to a similar deal with US owners, in which it would spend up to $10.03 billion to buy back or fix 475,000 US vehicles. In total, the company has now agreed to spend to date more than $18 billion to address diesel emissions issues in North America. The automaker still faces more costs to address larger vehicles and US fines.
Volkswagen also agreed to pay a $15 million Canadian dollar civil administrative monetary penalty in connection with the Canadian settlement. – (Reuters)