Washington: A federal judge said that Volkswagen AG has reached an agreement in principle to provide “substantial compensation” to the owners of about 80,000 polluting 3.0-litre diesel vehicles, a key hurdle to resolve the German automaker’s emissions scandal.
US District Judge Charles Breyer did not disclose the amount of owner compensation, which is not included in a $1bn settlement announced earlier this week between VW and US regulators.
Half of the compensation will be paid at the time Breyer gives final approval of the settlement. Some fixes for the 3.0 liters may not approved until 2018, Breyer said.
Earlier this week, Volkswagen reached the $1bn settlement with US regulators, offering to buy back about 20,000 of the vehicles, fix the remaining 60,000 and pay $225m into an environmental trust fund to offset the vehicles’ excess emissions.
The settlement covered luxury VW, Audi and Porsche vehicles with 3.0-litre engines.
With the agreement, Volkswagen would spend as much as $17.5bn in the United States to resolve claims from owners as well as federal and state regulators over polluting diesel vehicles in addition to compensation for the 3.0-litre owners.
