Volkswagen will pay New Hampshire about $6.1 million to settle Consumer Protection Act violations, up to $29 million in environmental mitigation, and many millions to fix or buy back impacted vehicles.
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Last year Volkswagen admitted to cheating NOx emissions on nearly half a million diesel cars in the US over almost a decade, then conceded to cheating emissions with diesel cars in most other markets.
Also on Tuesday, VW announced a separate settlement with at least 44 US states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that will cost at least $600 million.
The German auto giant has agreed to pay $10bn to buy back or fix the rigged diesel cars, as well as offer drivers up to $10,000 compensation.
The owners also have the option of letting Volkswagen modify the cars to meet USA pollution standards, if a fix is approved by environmental officials.
“We take our commitment to make things right very seriously and believe these agreements are a significant step forward”, said Matthias Muller, Volkswagen AG CEO, in a statement.
In addition, the German company will pay governments 2.7 billion U.S. dollars (£2 billion) for environmental mitigation and spend another 2 billion United States dollars (£1.5 billion) on research of zero-emissions vehicles in the US.
The settlement must still win approval from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in California, where consumer lawsuits against Volkswagen were consolidated into a class-action proceeding.
Volkswagen has admitted that various diesel models were equipped with software allowing the cars to pass emissions tests.
Deputy attorney general Sally Yates said: “By duping the regulators, Volkswagen turned almost half a million American drivers into unwitting accomplices in an unprecedented assault on our environment”.
While this settlement relates to two-litre diesel engines, lawyers are still working on settlements for another 80,000 vehicles with three-litre diesel engines.
The sum will also be applied to repairs of 2.0-liter diesels that owners choose to keep, if and when a fix plan is approved by the EPA and CARB.
“We’re getting VW’s polluting vehicles off the road and we’re reducing harmful pollution in our air, pollution that you never should have been emitted in the first place”, said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy at a press conference.
As part of the settlement, the company must offer to buy back most of the affected 475,000 cars with diesel engines, or terminate their leases.
If VW fails to get 85 percent of the cars fixed or off the road – about 380,000 vehicles – by June 30th, 2019, it’ll owe more money. If owners elect to have their cars bought back, their value would be set to last September when the scandal broke.
The majority of the state’s settlement will go into the general fund.
“At this moment, I don’t know anything more than I did a couple of months ago”, he said.
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The emissions-cheating scandal affects about 11 million VW vehicles worldwide and European regulators are seeking similar settlement for some 8.5 million VW vehicles sold in Europe.
