Dieselgate Update: Volkswagen Ready to Pay $10 billion in USA

In order to compensate owners of around 4,82,000 cars in the USA affected by the Dieselgate scandal, Volkswagen has agreed to dig deep into their pockets. A source familiar with the negotiation told AFP that Volkswagen will have to shell out a humongous $10 billion to settle US claims.

The 2.0-litre diesel car owners who are affected by this emissions scandal will each receive up to $7,000 in cash, and Volkswagen will also be funding an entire program to fight air-pollution. The source also disclosed that the owners of the affected cars will have an option to sell their cars back to Volkswagen at the amount before the scandal came out in public in September, or they can keep the cars and the German brand will bear all expenses to fix them. 

All this chaos came into the public eye after Volkswagen admitted in September last year to installing a software on diesel cars that tricked emission tests in the US for meeting environmental standards. After the software based device was turned off, the vehicles under the scanner emitted 40 times the permitted nitrogen oxide which caused a furore within the automotive industry.  Not only in the US, Volkswagen later admitted to have used the same software in over 11 million cars worldwide for its passenger car brands Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi as well. 

A financial settlement might not be the only end to all the trouble Volkswagen is facing in the US. However, a court hearing on the final settlement is supposed to happen on July 26, 2016. Even if the situation gets ‘bailed’ out in US, there are other parts of the world, including Europe, waiting for Volkswagen’s attention to tackle the emissions scandal.