US Judge approves VW 's $14.7 billion dieselgate settlement

Volkswagen Group's $14.7 billion settlement over the infamous dieselgate emission scandal has been approved by a US Federal Judge. The said settlement, touted as one of the biggest corporate settlements in the history, is between the German automaker and the regulators and owners of 475,000 polluting diesel vehicles in the United States. Having received the approval, Volkswagen has announced that it will start buying back affected cars from mid-November.

Under the $14.7 billion settlement, the automaker will be spending $10.033 billion on buying back affected cars and paying owner compensation, while the remaining $4.7 billion will be used for promoting green-energy in order to offset the damage done by VW's high polluting vehicles.

As part of the buy-back scheme, the automaker will be paying the pre-scandal trade-in value of the vehicle, along with an additional compensation amount in the range of $5,100 to $10,000.

Volkswagen had admitted using defeat devices in its cars to cheat emission tests. Subsequent inspection had revealed that the group's cars were emitting 40 times more harmful emissions than the allowed limits. It had even led to the company's CEO, Martin Winterkorn, stepping down from his position.

Source: Automotive News