“They fought to prevent new models from being tested, and once tipped off, Volkswagen employees actually undertook to destroy incriminating documents”.
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The announcement of the additional 2.2-billion-euro charge comes just a day after NY and MA filed lawsuits suggesting that VW senior executives were aware early on of efforts to hide high emissions levels in the company’s diesel cars.
For the first time, the suits connect Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller to the scandal, saying he was aware of a 2006 decision to not outfit Audi vehicles with equipment needed to meet US clean-air standards.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is seeking $450 million in penalties, said this week that Volkswagen engaged in “egregious and pervasive violations” that “strike at the heart” of state environmental laws.
The attorneys general from New York, Massachusetts and Maryland filed lawsuits on Tuesday.
Volkswagen said the allegations in the suit are not new and they had been discussed with environmental regulators and federal law enforcement officials during settlement talks. “It does not bear scrutiny”.
The company’s fuel emission cheating scandal will cost a total of $14.7 billion, $10 billion of which will go to the owners of the tainted vehicles, while another $2.7 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency for environmental mitigation.
“It is regrettable that some states have chose to sue for environmental claims now, notwithstanding their prior support of this ongoing federal-state collaborative process”, the company said.
That Volkswagen used six different “defeat devices” to purposefully skirt USA emissions rules, including three generations of a device used in Volkswagens and other iterations used in Audi and Porsche diesel engines.
The lawsuits accuse VW executives, including former chief executive Martin Winterkorn, of covering up the scandal for over a decade.
The state lawsuits were a blow after Europe’s largest automaker reached a crucial milestone last month by hammering out a $15.3 billion settlement with USA authorities.
Schneiderman and Healey detailed the case at a Tuesday news conference in New York City.
The company’s brands include luxury automakers Audi, Bentley and Bugatti, performance automakers Porsche and Lamborghini as well as mass market brands Volkswagen and Skoda.
The suits are the latest developments in the so-called Dieselgate scandal that has harmed VW’s global business, sullied its reputation and led to the departure of its CEO and other executives.
The suits didn’t say what penalties the states would seek, but it could be hundreds of million of dollars, the Times reports. The Justice Department is also pursuing a criminal investigation.
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The three AGs have also accused Volkswagen and Audi of repeatedly failing to disclose to regulators the true reason for the discrepancies: the defeat devices.
