Volkswagen may have to pay diesel owners USD7,000

Volkswagen may have to pay diesel owners up to $7,000 each under the $10bn settlement currently being negotiated in the US, reports suggested on Thursday afternoon.

The German carmaker, which has been negotiating various settlements after it admitted rigging of emissions tests, will make cash payments worth between $1,000 and $7,000, reported Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources.

As part of the settlement currently under negotiation Volkswagen has agreed to fund an environmental grant program to offset air pollution, after 482,000 of its diesel cars were found to emit up to 40 times the permitted amounts of nitrogen oxides.

Volkswagen last year admitted that it installed software in its diesel cars to cheat US emissions tests and has already made provisions of more than €16bn to cover costs relating to the scandal.

First quarter results from Volkswagen at the end of May showed pre-tax profits slumped almost 20% to €3.2bn as the diesel emissions scandal continued to take its toll and revenue fell to €50.9bn from €52.7bn.