Volkswagen settles Dieselgate lawsuit in Italy

The consequences from Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal continues to resonate, both at the German automaker and the wider industry.

Last week Altroconsumo, Italy’s largest consumer protection organization, announced Volkswagen has settled a class action brought by it on behalf of approximately 60,000 owners who purchased a Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda or Seat vehicle equipped with an EA189 turbo-diesel engine.

Volkswagen has earmarked around 50 million euros ($81 million) to settle the lawsuit, with owners eligible to receive amounts ranging from 550 euros ($896) to 1,100 euros ($1,790). Payments vary depending on whether the vehicle owner purchased the vehicle new or used, still owns the vehicle or sold it before September 2015, and whether the vehicle is jointly owned or owned under a single name.

Owners of eligible Volkswagen Group cars during this period have until the end of 2024 to log on to the campaign group’s website and accept the offer.

Volkswagen’s settlement with its Italian owners is the latest in a long series of lawsuits settled by the company after it was revealed in 2015 that the software on vehicles equipped with some diesel engines will detect when they are undergoing bench testing.

During official testing, the engine will reduce power output to limit emissions, but in reality the engine will exceed emissions regulations. Many of these cheating engines have been developed by Audi for use throughout the Volkswagen Group.

In the US, Volkswagen markets its TDI-equipped cars as “clean diesel.” This deception was discovered after the International Council on Clean Transportation conducted a study by West Virginia University.

In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to installing “defeat devices” in some of its diesel cars, but executives insisted the emissions cheating engine was an artifact of people deeper in the food chain.

In June 2023, several Audi executives, including former CEOs Rupert Stadler and Wolfgang Hatz, served as Audi’s director of engine development and later as chief engineer at the Volkswagen Group. , was fined in Germany for fraud, but escaped prison thanks to a suspended sentence.

Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Group during Dieselgate, has been charged by US and German authorities. His court date was delayed in Germany due to health problems.

It is estimated that Dieselgate has cost the automaker at least 30 billion euros ($49 billion) in fines, damages, recalls and remediation.

In the US alone, they had to pay $4.3 billion in fines, $2.7 billion in environmental remediation, fund the Electrify America charging network for up to $2 billion ($3 billion), and buy Return or repair affected vehicles.

The whole scandal also caused the company to pivot from diesel to electric vehicles, and spurred the development of the MEB structure that now underpins the ID Volkswagen. 3And IDENTIFICATION. Buzzas Cupra was bornSkoda Enyaq and others.

It also stigmatizes diesel engines, especially in Europe. Once the fuel of choice for passenger cars on the continent, but since mid-June last year it has lags behind gasoline, hybrid and pure electric.