Volkswagen pays 750 mln euros in settlements to German dieselgate customers

BERLIN, June 30 (Xinhua) — With more than 240,000 cases in Germany concluded, Volkswagen paid out more than 750 million euros (842 million U.S. dollars) to customers in settlements, the German carmaker announced on Tuesday.

With the transfer of money, the settlement of the dieselgate scandal, which was reached in the course of a class action lawsuit in Germany, had “essentially been concluded,” Volkswagen noted.

An online platform on which German customers can submit their claim for compensation is scheduled to close on July 6, according to Volkswagen. A few thousand cases were still being assessed or processed.

The agreement was reached with more than 90 percent of the cases in Germany in which claimants were entitled to a settlement, according to Volkswagen.

In February, Volkswagen and the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) had finally agreed on a compensation settlement in the dieselgate class action lawsuit. Customers received between 1,350 euros and 6,257 euros, depending on the vehicle type and model year.

However, Volkswagen is still confronted with lawsuits from tens of thousands of people who have chosen to sue individually in Germany.

The scandal surrounding illegally manipulated exhaust emission levels in millions of diesel cars built by Volkswagen became public in 2015. The scandal had already incurred legal costs of more than 30 billion euros, most of which due to fines and compensation in the United States. Enditem