Volkswagen Might Pay $10+ Billion To Compensate Diesel Gate

If reports are to be believed, Volkswagen has agreed to pay a compensation or fine that exceeds a sum of $10 billion to settle the claims with its UB-based customers. The German carmaker had been into talks with US authorities, assessing the losses and sorting out a middle way and, according to the people familiar with the matter, this seems to be it.

What all of this adds up to: Speaking of the settlement proposal, VW would have to compensate the customers of its affected cars. For this, it might have to pay each customer between $1000 and $7000, depending upon the car's manufacturing year and “other factors”. However, the average fine could lie around the ballpark of $5000 and could additionally include a provision where VW has to buy back the affected cars. Pretty sore, considering the fact that there are more than 5,00,000 affected vehicles. In addition to this, VW would have to pay $4 billion to compensate for the environmental harm its affected diesel cars have caused to the US. Apart from this, the company is facing the same problem in many other nations and would have to settle them separately.

After the company officially admitted its guilt in September last year, the diesel gate scandal has created a lot of problems for VW around the globe. Since then, the company has made many amendments to its expansion strategy, with a few of its future plans being dropped. Volkswagen was also seen getting rid of its renowned slogan “Das Auto” since the automaker felt that it seemed “pretentious” after the scandal. The automaker’s new marketing campaign simply says  “Volkswagen” under its age-old logo.

The final hearing of the said settlement will take place in a US court on July 26, 2016.