Volkswagen settles UK ‘dieselgate’ claims with £193m payout
Volkswagen has agreed to pay £193m to settle 91,000 legal claims in England and Wales linked to the “dieselgate” emissions scandal that rocked the German carmaker.
The claimants will receive average payments of more than £2,100 each after joining the action that alleged cars made by Volkswagen group, including its Audi, Seat and Skoda brands, emitted more nitrogen dioxide than the company claimed. The high court in London dismissed the proceedings on Wednesday after the settlement.
The carmaker will also pay out an amount thought to be in the tens of millions of pounds to cover the claimants’ legal costs, as well as other fees thought to include the costs levied by investors who backed the legal actions.
The dieselgate scandal erupted in 2015 after Volkswagen was found to have installed illegal “defeat devices” to cheat emissions tests. It has become one of the costliest corporate scandals in history. The company has spent more than €30bn (£26bn) in legal fees and payouts to customers, including a $15bn (£12bn) settlement in the US. A fraud trial of the former VW chief executive Martin Winterkorn has been delayed because of his ill health.
Volkswagen did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. In a press release it said settlement was the “prudent course of action commercially” to avoid the legal cost of a six-month trial and possible appeals. The company believes too much time has passed since the scandal emerged in 2015 for other owners to bring claims, although there are two other British claims in the early stages of litigation.
A series of other carmakers face litigation for similar claims in the UK, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Stellantis, Nissan, Renault, Ford and Volvo. The total number
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