VW Faces More Penalties If U.S. Diesel Owners Resist Buyback Option

Volkswagen AG’s diesel scandal settlement in the U.S. assumes the company will buy back or repair at least 85% of the 475,000 cheater diesels it sold there. But owners aren’t required to respond to either option, notes Bloomberg News.

Reaching the 85% target will cost VW as much as $14.7 billion, including penalties and remediation payments, according to the news service.

But if VW is short of that goal by June 30, 2019, it faces a new fine of $85 million for each percentage point of shortfall, Bloomberg notes. The company would pay another $13.5 million for missing the same target for diesels it sold in California. The fines collected in both cases would be added to a $2.7 billion environmental mitigation fund set up by the settlement.

VW still hasn’t won approval from the Environmental Protection Agency or California Air Resources Board for its proposed fixes to the affected 4-cylinder diesels. Those engines represent three iterations sold in the U.S. since 2009.

Still unresolved is agreement about what VW must do to remedy some 80,000 V-6 diesel vehicles it sold in the U.S. Like the 4-cylinder cars, the V-6 diesels were equipped with software that evaded U.S. emission standards.