The Volkswagen emissions scandal – which recently spread to U.S. auto supplier Bosch – is facing €8.2bn (£7bn) in damages claims from investors.
Advertisement
The courthouse in the German city of Braunschweig, which is located about 37 kilometres away from Volkswagen’s home base at Wolfsburg received some 750 lawsuits on Monday (September 19) alone.
Monday was the first business day after the anniversary of the scandal and investors had feared they needed to sue within a year of the company’s admission that it had equipped about 11 million diesel vehicles with software to cheat on pollution tests. Investors are alleging they suffered damages because the company was slow in disclosing the issue.
Law firm Quinn Emanuel filed the suit earlier this week on behalf of a group of investors – including BlackRock – who are seeking a total of €1.3bn (£1.1bn). Last year Volkswagen shares lost more than a third of their value in the first two trading days in Germany after the manipulations were uncovered by USA regulators.
VW, which faces lawsuits and investigations across the world, has consistently said it did not break capital markets regulations in the disclosure of its cheating. German state pension funds have also filed complaints. The court said that it would take four weeks to process the new claims against Volkswagen.
An executive from Germany-based Volkswagen AG headquarters is being questioned by Korean prosecutors in relation to the country’s probe on a number of emission cheat allegations.
Volkswagen has already set aside about $18 billion to cover the cost of vehicle refits and the settlement with United States authorities.
Advertisement
Past year the world’s second-biggest carmaker lost $6.6 billion after it admitted manipulating emissions tests.
