VW Urged to Offer European Customers U.S.-Style Diesel Compensation

Volkswagen AG should offer owners of its cheater diesels in Europe that same compensation it plans for customers in the U.S., says EC industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska.

The company reportedly will agree later this week to a $10.3 billion (€9.4 billion) deal to pay its U.S. customers an average $5,000 each because their diesels were secretly rigged to evade U.S. emission standards. Bienkowska tells Welt am Sonntag that “treating consumers in Europe differently than U.S. consumers is no way to win back trust.”

She made a similar comment in January after VW offered some 482,000 affected American customers free roadside assistance, an unrestricted $500 prepaid credit card and $500 in goods and services from VW dealerships. But VW contended the two markets were not comparable.

The company said the American program was intended to compensate owners in the U.S., where diesel fuel costs more that gasoline, during months of uncertainty about how and when their cars would be repaired. VW argued that such compensation wasn’t necessary in Europe, where diesel is cheaper and vehicle repairs began promptly in January.