Citing unidentified sources close to the negotiations, Die Welt said the agreement would be presented on Thursday to Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, avoiding a trial that was set to start in the summer.
Advertisement
The Justice Department sued Volkswagen for $48 billion in January, alleging that the company violated the Clean Air Act by dodging emissions controls in almost 600,000 vehicles in the United States – and several million more in Europe.
Marrio Guerreiro, executive vice president of communications for the Volkswagen Group of America, declined to comment on the report.
Volkswagen may also offer to repair polluting diesel vehicles if usa regulators approve the fix as workable at a future date, the sources said.
The compensation fund is expected to represent more than $1 billion on top of the cost of buying back the vehicles, but it is not clear how much each owner might receive, the person said.
German media is reporting that the defeat devices at the center of the Volkswagen emission scandal were produced by Audi way back in 1999.
The company does “not believe any expedited hearing or bench trial is appropriate or required”, according to the agenda for the hearing on Thursday at the San Francisco district court about VW’s progress towards reaching a deal with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Earlier Wednesday, Reuters reported that the iconic German carmaker was increasing the amount of money it set aside to much more than the $7.6 billion it had earmarked to settle with regulators, a sign that Volkswagen expects to pay even more fines down the line. The buyback offer does not apply to the bigger, 80,000 3.0-litre diesel vehicles also found to have exceeded USA pollution limits, including Audi and Porsche SUV models, the people said.
We will know more after a court hearing that Breyer will convene Thursday morning.
The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the company continues, a second person said, as do other probes overseas.
Advertisement
The report by Die Welt indicates that European owners could be compensated similarly to USA consumers, but doesn’t specify what that compensation would be. The software made the cars appear as though they complied with the EPA’s standards, while also having higher levels of power and fuel efficiency.
