VW Submits $1.2 Billion Settlement on V-6 Diesels in U.S.

Volkswagen AG has agreed to pay about $1.2 billion to U.S. customers whose Audi and VW vehicles were equipped with V-6 diesels that had been rigged to falsify emission tests.

The proposed settlement was submitted overnight to the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Judge Charles Breyer plans to review the deal on Feb. 14, Bloomberg News reports.

The plan applies to about 82,000 of the company’s Audi, Porsche and VW brand models. The agreement offers owners a variety of sell-or-fix options and compensation payments depending on the age, model and trim level of their vehicles.

Some 20,000 owners of 2009-2012 model Audi Q7 crossover vehicles and VW Touareg SUVs will be offered the option of selling their vehicles back to VW at prices ranging from $26,000 to $58,000. Or they may keep their vehicles and await yet-to-be-approved repairs. In either case, the customers will receive compensation payments ranging from $9,200 to $15,000.

VW intends to repair 62,000 newer Audi, Porsche and VW models with V-6 diesels—or buy them back if it can’t bring the engines into regulatory compliance. VW will pay owners of these vehicles between $8,500 and $17,600 in compensation. Former owners and lessees will be eligible for payments between $3,200 and $8,800.

Last night’s settlement brings to more than $23 billion (€21.4 billion) the amount VW Group has agreed to pay in the U.S. for repairs, fines, compensation and environmental restitution covering about 557,000 engines. Bloomberg notes that VW so far has set aside €18.2 billion ($19.6 billion) to cover worldwide claims against 11 million diesels the carmaker fitted with so-called defeat devices.