Australian competition regulator said on Friday the federal court rejected Volkswagen’s appeal against a record A$125 million ($95.1 million) fine on the automaker, which was part of its global emissions cheating scandal.
The federal court fined the automaker in December 2019 for violating the Australian consumer law by making misleading representations about compliance with the standards of diesel emissions in the country.
Volkswagen later appealed this decision, insisting that the court impose the A$75 million ($57 million) penalty amount agreed upon with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the regulator said.
In an emailed statement to Reuters, the automaker said it believes that A$75 million was “fair” and it would review the federal court’s decision and think about its options.
ACCC had earlier said the breach took place between 2011 and 2015 and the automaker admitted to fitting its automobiles with a defeat device, causing them to operate in one mode for the purpose of emissions testing and another when being driven.
The case in Australia was part of a host of legal suits that the automaker was embroiled in different parts of the world after it was discovered using illegal engine-control software to pass pollution tests in the United States in 2015.
