Volkswagen is in the last stages of tying up compensation claims in the US over the emissions scandal after agreeing to pay up to £1bn to a group of car owners.
The carmaker said it had reached proposed agreements to resolve outstanding civil claims regarding approximately 78,000 diesel vehicles with 3.0L TDI V6 engines, covering VW, Audi and Porsche brands.
Hinrich J. Woebcken, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, said that with a settlement programme for 2.0L TDI vehicles well under way, ‘all of our customers with affected vehicles in the United States will have a resolution available to them’.
Last month, lawyers began legal action on behalf of VW owners in the UK over the scandal, which could see the carmaker paying out billions more in compensation.
At the time, Mary Creagh MP, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said that with VW facing multi-billion dollar pay-outs in the US and in the absence of action from the UK Government action, it was ‘inevitable that motorists would take matters into their own hands and pursue private action in the courts’.
Volkswagen put the cost of the 3.0L TDI settlement programme in the US at $1.2bn (approximately £1bn).
It has offered to provide cash payments to all eligible owners and recall and repair approximately 58,000 2013-2016 model year vehicles to bring them into compliance with the emissions standards to which they were originally certified.
It will also compensate owners and lessees of approximately 20,000 eligible 2009-2012 model year vehicles or, if approved by regulators, modify the vehicles to substantially reduce their nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions so as to allow eligible owners and lessees to keep them.
Despite the scandal, VW was reported to have returned to be the biggest car seller in the world in 2016, overtaking Toyota
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