Dieselgate: agreement between Volkswagen and representatives of 400,000 customers

Text by: RFI Follow

The car manufacturer Volkswagen has reached an amicable agreement with the consumer association VZBV, representing some 400,000 customers. This could end the “Dieselgate” mega-trial in Germany.

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" After several days of negotiations ", the two parties " have reached an agreement, " announced the Brunswick court in a statement. This could be the end of the largest audience opened in Germany at the end of September on the rigged engine scandal.

The announcement comes two weeks after a passing of arms between the car group and the consumer association VZBV, accusing each other of being responsible for the "failure" of the talks.

The agreement initially negotiated provided for the payment of up to 830 million euros by Volkswagen to its customers. The disagreement concerned in particular the remuneration of the lawyers involved and the terms of payment of compensation.

The manufacturer had then announced to offer this agreement to its customers even, without the support of the association of consumers VZBV. The applicants , brought together in this first German "model procedure", similar to an American "class action", claim compensation for their cars equipped with fake diesel engines.

Scandal haunting German auto industry

The automotive group is accused of deliberately harming its customers by installing software without their knowledge, making vehicles appear less polluting than they actually were. The drawer scandal dates back to September 2015, when the German automobile giant admitted to having equipped 11 million vehicles with fake software, and has haunted it since the German automobile industry.

Most of the more than 30 billion euros in legal fees, fines and compensation paid by Volkswagen has so far been in the United States, in particular to compensate customers for the recovery of their vehicles.

In Germany, the manufacturer has so far paid only three fines totaling 2.3 billion euros and denies having caused damage to motorists.

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