In the scandal surrounding exhaust gas manipulation in the automotive industry, Audi is faced with a possible mass lawsuit.

The consumer law firm Gansel from Berlin, together with the legal service provider and litigation financier Spreefels, is calling on buyers of diesel vehicles with V-TDI engines to assert their claims against the automobile manufacturer from Ingolstadt.

According to the law firm, it is about larger diesel engines with a displacement between 3 and 4.2 liters, for which the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) ordered recalls in 2018.

Marcus Jung

Editor in business.

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Various Audi models, the VW Touareg and the Porsche models Cayenne, Panamera and Macan, which were built from 2008 to 2018, are affected.

Based on the KBA database, the Gansel law firm assumes that there are 250,000 potential claimants.

"With the class action we will put a lot of pressure on Audi AG," says lawyer Timo Gansel.

The litigation financier Spreefels bears the costs of the proceedings.

"This is particularly good news for people without legal protection insurance, who otherwise might not have claimed their right to compensation," says Gansel.

If successful, Spreefels retains 35 percent of the sum won.

The lawyers put this between 15 and 25 percent of the original purchase price, depending on the model and mileage.

In comparable proceedings, between 8,000 and 14,000 euros have been won, according to Berlin.

There is not much time left: The claims expire at the end of the year.

Should the "up to" 250,000 plaintiffs hoped for by the initiators materialize by then, the lawsuit would have the dimensions of the model declaratory action brought by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) against Volkswagen in Braunschweig in 2019.

Model lawsuit against Daimler

The consumer association is one step further than the Berlin lawyers with its current project against the Daimler group.

As the Federal Office of Justice in Bonn announced on Wednesday, consumers can now register their claims or legal relationships for the model declaratory action in a lawsuit register.

In July, the vzbv filed a lawsuit against the automobile manufacturer at the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court.

The consumer advocates want to reach up to 50,000 drivers of Mercedes GLC and GLK models with the OM651 engine.

If at least 50 diesel drivers join the lawsuit by the beginning of January, negotiations will take place in Stuttgart next year.