According to the hearing’s transcript, it specifically mentions Volkswagen offering buybacks, monetary compensation, repairs and lease cancellations to affected owners and lessees.
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Volkswagen is still negotiating the size of the fines it will pay to the USA government for violations of clean air laws, as well as how much additional compensation it will provide to owners. Also unclear is how much VW will pay to buy the cars back, although owners likely will get the cars’ value before the scandal broke on September 18, 2015.
It follows the damaging admission last autumn that it used software to cheat on emissions tests – affecting 11 million vehicles worldwide.
Germany’s Daimler, maker of Mercedes, stated it had actually been gotten in touch with by the Justice Department last week over “possible indicators of abnormalities”.
About VW’s USA deal, San Francisco attorney Michael Steel said: “Although it is too soon to tell whether VW owners will be satisfied, and there are still other liabilities that must be addressed, this is the beginning of the end of the story”. Another 90,000 cars with 3-liter diesel engines also have cheating software, but lawyers are still negotiating what to do with those. But the more she hears about potential fixes, the more she prefers the idea of a buyback.
Looking ahead to the current year, however, revenues were projected to decline by “as much as five percent, depending on the economic conditions – particularly in South America and Russian Federation – and the exchange rate developments and in light of the emissions issue”, VW said. Now that it has revealed the cost of the scandal, Volkswagen said Friday that it is to post a massive net loss of 5.5 billion euros for previous year.
“If the fix turns it into a dog, or it gets 5 to 10 miles per gallon less than it did already, I’m not interested”, he said.
The automaker said in a statement that the settlement marks an important step in regaining the trust of regulators, customers and the public.
Both Audi Philippines and Volkswagen Philippines have assured customers in separate statements that their vehicles from the controversial issue stating that they fully comply with Philippine emission standards.
The scandal affected more than 500,000 USA vehicles and some 11 million worldwide, with the bulk in Europe.
“I am extremely pleased to report that the parties have come up with a concrete plan by today’s date”, said Breyer, who had set Thursday as the deadline for an agreement.
The agreement between Volkswagen, the US government and private lawyers will also include “substantial compensation”.
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The company said early release of partial results would interfere with settlement negotiations in the United States and could hamper co-operation with USA law enforcement.
