Volkswagen agrees settlement of $15 billion after emissions scandal
The largest ever civil settlement made by a car manufacturer
- Company is accused of altering vehicles in order to cheat emissions tests
Updated : 16:24
Volkswagen will settle claims from a court case over its emissions cheating scandal in a deal worth nearly $15 billion.
The agreement will be the largest of its kind ever settled by a car manufacturer
The company admitted last September that, since 2009, it had installed illegal software in some 11 million diesel cars worldwide, disguising the true level of pollutants emitted by the vehicles during air quality tests.
Bloomberg News reported the story first, with approximately $10 billion being recalled for vehicle owners for at least 500,000 clean diesel cars, as well as $10,000 for each owner in compensation. The German firm, which also owns Audi and Porsche, will spend $2bn on clean emissions technology and pay $2.7bn in fines to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The settlement is due to be confirmed by a California judge this week, and Volkswagen can expect further cases such as this in other countries, notably in its home nation - Germany.
The agreement is one of the largest corporate settlements in US history, though it is dwarfed by the biggest of all: the $206bn Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement reached between the US and the country’s four largest tobacco companies in 1998.