A ruling by a German court has determined that a buy-back must be made by Volkswagen from owners of the company's diesel-powered vehicles customized with an operating system that evaded pollution testing. The ruling states owners must accept the vehicle's current market price based on its mileage since acquiring the vehicle, and not the purchase price.
Volkswagen disclosed the ruling would set the stage for Germany to settle its remaining customer claims. The court's verdict will impact roughly 60,000 individual claims brought by car owners in the country; some 262,000 others have already settled their claims to the tune of 830 million euros in the class-action agreement.
The carmaker has settled over 30 billion euros in total penalties, buy-back arrangements and other compensations globally since the controversy erupted in 2015. Volkswagen said at the time the company had used an illegal program to alter the results of diesel-engine emissions testing.
The company also disclosed that around 11 million vehicles had been fitted with what it calls a "defeat device", which manipulated diesel engines during emissions testing.
The software works by changing the engine's performance by masking excessive nitrogen oxide levels in order to enhance the test result. The company has been hounded by a series of legal issues worldwide, including the United Kingdom.
Volkswagen admitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency in September 2015 that it had fitted 11 million vehicles around the world with a program that enabled it to evade pollution standards. American engineers had discovered software in its vehicles that could monitor pollution test cases and adjust the performance of the car to boost results.
Called "Dieselgate," the scandal brought about a loss of faith for the entire car industry after similar anomalies were later found in other manufacturers. Monday's determination by Germany's Federal Court of Justice marked a major precedent for the hundreds of thousands of Germans who have been impacted by the "Dieselgate" scandal that has rattled Volkswagen since 2015.
A Volkswagen representative disclosed the car manufacturer will now settle with other vehicle owners who filed for claims and offer them a one-time reimbursement on condition that they return their car. Company spokesman Nicolai Laude revealed in a statement released to Euronews that the amount of reimbursement will be arranged on a case to case basis.
Meanwhile, European regulators stopped short of taking Volkswagen vehicles off the highways, leading the company to argue that compensation claims from car owners in its home region were without merit.
