Dieselgate drags on for VW, Bosch with new payouts

German carmaker Volkswagen and auto parts supplier Bosch on Wednesday announced payouts to US buyers of vehicles affected by the “dieselgate” scandal, in a bid to put the American chapter of the tale behind them.
Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 to building so-called “defeat devices” designed to hoodwink regulatory emissions tests into around 11 million cars worldwide, including 600,000 in the US, and has been clocking up fines and compensation payments ever since.
VW said in a statement it will pay $1.2 billion (€1.1 billion) to compensate around 78,000 US buyers of 3.0-liter diesel cars as well as buying back or refitting their vehicles.
Owners of 3.0-liter VW, Audi, and Porsche diesel models dating from 2009-16 are the last group of customers to be compensated by VW over dieselgate.
The amount brings the total in fines and compensation the Wolfsburg-based group has agreed in the US to more than $23 billion.
Meanwhile, Bosch said in its own statement that it would settle “the most substantial part of criminal law proceedings pending” in relation to the emissions cheating scandal with a $327.5 million payout to car owners and dealers.
Stuttgart-based Bosch is the world’s largest car parts supplier and a household appliance giant. The family-owned group is accused of helping Volkswagen conceal the existence of the software, elements of which Bosch itself supplied.
Bosch’s deal will see it compensate buyers of 2.0-liter diesel cars from Volkswagen and subsidiary Audi between 2009 and 2015, as well as 3.0-liter VW, Audi and Porsche diesels bought between 2009 and 2016.
But the company said it “neither acknowledges the facts as alleged by the plaintiffs nor does Bosch accept any liability.”
Bosch has “neither admitted anything nor covered anything up,” a spokesman told AFP.
By contrast, VW admitted earlier in January to conspiring to deceive its customers and US authorities and to obstructing justice by destroying documents, adding $4.3 billion in fines to the dieselgate tally.
Both Bosch and VW are keen to leave the diesel scandal behind them, with the carmaker especially keen to restore its image after sales plummeted in the Americas last year.
VW plans to slim down, shedding some 30,000 jobs by 2020, as well as making a turn toward new technologies including self-driving cars and introducing a slew of electric models.
As a major supplier to the entire German car industry, Bosch too wants “to devote our attention and our resources to the transition in mobility and in other areas of activity,” Chief Executive Volkmar Denner said in a statement

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