Volkswagen has been desperately trying to move past the emissions scandal since their first settlement agreement back in October 2016 in the U.S., which has so far set back the cheating automaker $14.7 billion (£11.8 billion).
In recent news, the VW Group have agreed to pay $157 million (£126 million) to settle environmental claims in 10 U.S. states. The 10 states involved are New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The settlement agreement is thought to cover losses occurred as a result of the excessive nitrous oxide polluted by nearly 600,000 vehicles in the U.S. It’s also reported that the settlement will deal with some of the consumer claims.
New York Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, highlights the importance of holding companies accountable for their wrongdoing. The state’s $32.5 million (£26.1 million) share reflects the seriousness of VW’s actions. Schneiderman said that the share in the settlement is the state’s largest ever air pollution fine, reiterating that:
“…no company – however large or powerful – is above the law.”
Massachusetts’ Attorney General, Maura Healey, also confirmed the same, stating that the $20 million (£16 million) share is “the largest-ever state environmental civil penalty”.
Although VW is the world’s 7th largest company, it doesn’t allow them special treatment. This is evident in the fines and penalties imposed on the VW Group by the U.S and Canada.
Fines to date
To date, VW has agreed to pay up to $25 billion (£20 billion) in its efforts to remediate owners, environmental regulators, states, and dealerships in the U.S. The settlement has allowed the VW Group to make buy-back offers on thousands of vehicles.
Previously, the VW Group reached a $603 million (£485 million) settlement agreement with 44 U.S. states, but according to Yahoo News, the settlement does not include the claims in the current $157 million (£126 million) settlement.
VW’s obligations
Although the settlement sounds very financial in nature, the agreement also obliges VW to offer at least 3 electric vehicles in 10 states in the coming years. Speaking at the Detroit Auto Show in January, VW sales executive, Jurgen Stackmann, confirms that the VW Group are on track to launch their first electric vehicle by 2020. Stackmann’s aspirations don’t go a miss; his aim is for VW to sell 1 million electric vehicles by 2025. The introduction of the new electric vehicles may have come at a very coincidental time, alongside the automaker also offering a 6-year warranty on selected new vehicles. One could suspect this may be VW’s deflection strategy to draw attention away from the whole “dieselgate” scandal.
The VW Group has confirmed that the deal with the 10 U.S. states is to “avoid further prolonged and costly litigation as VW continues to work to earn back the trust of its customer, regulators and the public”.
In the U.K., VW continue to refuse to compensate victims, and say they have done nothing wrong.
Sources:
http://fortune.com/2016/10/26/settlement-vw-diesel-scandal/
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor-shows-detroit-motor-show/volkswagen-electric-cars-will-soon-become-mainstream-choice
https://www.yahoo.com/news/volkswagen-settles-10-u-state-145916379.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/business/volkswagen-diesel-penalties.html?_r=0
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/foreign/vw-emissions-scandal/2017/03/30/vw-agrees-pay-states-rigged-diesels/99821096/
http://beta.fortune.com/global500/volkswagen-7
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