London (awp/afp) – German carmaker Volkswagen agreed on Wednesday to pay 193 million pounds (233.1 million Swiss francs) to compensate 91,000 British motorists who felt aggrieved by the rigged engine scandal and had initiated legal proceedings.
“The Volkswagen group and the plaintiffs have today reached an amicable settlement” of this case, the manufacturer announced in a press release, while British justice had ruled two years earlier in favor of motorists but did not agree. was not yet pronounced on the compensation.
This agreement “resolves the approximately 91,000 claims against various Volkswagen Group entities and dealers in this class action lawsuit in England and Wales”.
Beyond the announced sum, distributed between the plaintiffs by their lawyers, the automobile group specifies contributing to the legal costs and other costs of the plaintiffs.
In total, some 1.2 million Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda brand vehicles were affected in the United Kingdom by the cheating recognized by the German giant at the end of 2015 out of a total of 11 million diesel cars in the world.
The High Court in London ruled in April 2020 that Volkswagen had indeed implemented “trickster software” in violation of European rules in cars sold in the United Kingdom in order to pass pollutant emissions tests.
After the ruling, Volkswagen said “the case is continuing”, that the plaintiffs had suffered no loss and that it should not compensate them.
Wednesday’s announcement does not represent “an admission of liability, causation or loss” by the plaintiffs, Volkswagen said in its statement.
But “the legal costs” which awaited him in this case, with also possible appeal proceedings, “were such that an amicable settlement was the most prudent course of action”, estimated the manufacturer.
The agreement “is another important step as the Volkswagen Group continues to move forward after the deeply regrettable events” that led to this case, said Philip Haarmann, Volkswagen’s chief legal officer, quoted in the press release.
The dieselgate, which has resulted in legal action in many countries, has already cost Volkswagen more than 30 billion euros, largely in the United States where the German group pleaded guilty to fraud in 2017.
dpa/al