Volkswagen Says Big DieselGate Payouts Are Due To US Class Action Lawsuits

If you own a Volkswagen with a diesel engine in the U.S., the company will buy back your car and give you as much as $10,000. If you drive one in Europe, you may only get a piece of pipe.

As part of Volkswagen Group's settlement of U.S. civil claims stemming from the emissions scandal, the company pledged as much as $10 billion for some 500,000 car owners. The 8.5 million customers in Europe may only get an hour-long visit to the dealer to have their engines repaired with a tube that regulates air flow or a software update.

The reasons for the wide disparity between the proposals stems from equally large differences in legal and regulatory structures in each region.

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MDarringer - 6/29/2016 3:43:38 PM

+1 Boost

Except that the payouts are more of the "better than nothing" variety than "big".

Now factor in that VW will not be doing the same in Europe where they can get away murder. If VW were an ethical company, they would do the right thing not be because of lawsuits in the USA or ways to weasel out in Europe.

Meet the new VW same as the old scamming VW.

TomM - 6/29/2016 6:53:15 PM

+2 Boost

The standards in the US and Europe are not the same(not to mention how they are established and enforced) - and it is clear that they can actually meet the European standards with modifications of the car -- something that they apparently could not do here. IF it really was only a software "shunt" - that means that if only during the test - they actually did meet the standards at some point. They should have simply been able to put the car in that software mode all the time to meet the emissions(unless that would cause other problems). So - it must be the combination of the emissions and fuel mileage here in the USA - that forced their hands (along with our far more potent legal system).

Still - we are not talking peanuts here - this will not settle every lawsuit - States will still be suing for environmental damage - as might the Federal Government as well. In the end - just as with Takata - there is a line where it makes sense for a manufacturer to go bankrupt and reorganize - and then the payout to consumers would be greatly reduced or eliminated depending on where the suit is filed. So - negotiation cannot go past that point. I suspect a payout and losses on the order of 30-40 Billion Dollars - which is near what GM's entire market cap is. And that is not just "big" it is huge.

MDarringer - 6/29/2016 7:14:13 PM

-1 Boost

wah wah wah wah wah

We most decidedly ARE talking peanuts here.

VW should be paying punitive damages to customers. It isn't.

VW going bankrupt would make me do a happy dance.

Evil company.