VW Faces New Legal Challenges After Emissions Scandal
Last year in September Volkswagen admitted to the EPA, that they had software that was programmed to cheat emissions testing; they had admitted that their vehicles had been fitted with a defeat device to cheat emissions tests but denied they had any knowledge of what had gone on within the company. This defeat device was designed to provide inaccurate results in the emissions tests to deceive the EPA so these cars could be sold as producing low emissions, when in reality the emissions were a lot higher.
Cars that produce lower emissions cost more, therefore those motorists who paid more for their cars are set to be compensated, as they would have paid more than the car was actually worth; it of course depends on whether your car is actually one of the cars that cheated the EU emissions tests. This applies to VW cars sold in the US between 2008 and 2015, and motorists may also be affected even if they don’t own an actual VW car, as VW owns several brands, including Audi, SEAT and Skoda, as well as top-end names such as Bentley and Porsche; this means that big names with the EA 189 engine include VW Golf and Passat, plus the Audi A4 and Skoda Octavia may be affected; it is yet to be determined if the same trickery was done to the cars manufactured and sold within the UK.
VW are facing legal action and a lawsuit has been set against them in the US; there will be a European structure set up in by the same lawyers involved in the US based lawsuit against VW to enable institutional investors around the world to recoup billions of dollars in damages from the German carmaker over its emissions scandal.
As a result of this the share price and sales have plummeted, and the company and their investors will take heavy losses, before and after they reach a settlement; this could mean job losses within VW as they try to recover their costs internally.