German car manufacturing giant Volkswagen has found itself in one of the gravest troubles in their proud history due to the diesel emmission scandal, that saw the stock of the company nosedive but now it seems the company are going to agree to a settlement in order to bring the sorry episode to an end. According to latest reports in several sections of the media, the company are all set to agree to a total settlement of around $15 billion for the offence of polluting their diesel cars. The media got wind of the from two sources close to the development and the settlement would be paid to around half a million customers and regulatory bodies in the United States.
According to a report by Reuters, "The settlement, to be announced on Tuesday in Washington, includes $10.033 billion to offer buybacks to owners of about 475,000 polluting vehicles and nearly $5 billion in funds to offset excess diesel emissions and boost investment in zero emission vehicles, the sources said. A separate settlement with nearly all U.S. state attorneys general over excess diesel emissions will be announced on Tuesday and is expected to be more than $500 million and will push the total to over $15 billion, a separate source briefed on the matter said. Spokeswomen for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Volkswagen (VW) declined to comment."
In spite of the fact that it will be the most expensive settlement in the history of the automobile industry, there have been reports that the company had set aside substantial amount of money to cover the settlement and Volkswagen's shares actually rose in the stock market as the news filtered in. The report went on to add,"Speaking on condition of anonymity, due to court-imposed gag rules, the first sources said owners of 2.0 liter diesel VW 2009-2015 cars would receive at least $5,100 compensation along with the estimated value of the vehicles as of September 2015, before the scandal erupted. Some owners will get as much as $10,000 in compensation, the first sources said, depending on the value of the car. The $10.033 billion is the maximum VW could pay if it had to buy back all vehicles, but the actual amount VW will pay could be much less if a large number of owners don't take buybacks."
