Volkswagen has accepted pay at least $1.22 billion to repair or buy back nearly 80,000 polluting U.S. 3.0 liter diesel-engine automobiles to settle claims it fitted illegal emissions-cheating software to the vehicles, court documents revealed.
Auto supplier Robert Bosch GmbH also agreed to pay $327.5 million to U.S. diesel Volkswagen owners, as per the files submitted late Tuesday.
Volkswagen could be required to pay up to $4.04 billion if regulators don’t authorize repairs for all vehicles. In December, Volkswagen stated it had accepted to buy back 20,000 vehicles and expected to win approval to repair another 60,000.
The settlement is the last significant obstacle to Volkswagen moving beyond the scandal over its setup of secret software in many of the U.S. diesel cars to cheat exhaust emissions tests. Volkswagen still faces suits from some U.S. states and firms.
Volkswagen has already revealed 18.2 billion euros ($19.63 billion) of provisions to cover the expenses of “Dieselgate” and a source knowledgeable about the matter said last month that its total expense was most likely to stay below 20 billion euros.
Volkswagen’s luxury car unit Audi stated on Wednesday it was examining whether it had to put aside more arrangements to cover the expenses of a U.S. settlement of the scandal, on top of the 980 million euros it presently reserved.
“We are using the court files to examine exactly what we still need to reserve for the yearly accounts,” an Audi spokesman stated in Germany.
Under the Volkswagen settlement that must be authorized by a U.S. judge, owners of 3.0 liter cars who go with fixes will get compensation of between $7,000 and $16,000 from Volkswagen if emissions repairs are authorized in a prompt fashion– and the automaker will pay another $500 if the repair impacts a vehicle’s performance.
Owners who choose a buyback will get $7,500 on top of the worth of the vehicle.
The United States Federal Trade Commission, which had taken legal action against Volkswagen, unanimously all to back the deal.
