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[WASHINGTON] Volkswagen has paid some US$9.5 billion since 2016 to US motorists misled by devices installed by the German automaker to cheat emission standards, the US federal consumer protection authority said on Monday.
Link: Business Times.
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Nearly 50 hours of secretly recorded conversations appear to show Volkswagen engaging in legally dubious behavior in a dispute with a supplier. Now the carmaker is investigating who released them to the media.
Link: Deutsche Welle.
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Oliver Schmidt was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in VW's emissions cheating scandal. Germany will now be responsible for enforcing the remainder of his sentence.
Link: Deutsche Welle.
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Stichting Car Claim has been at the forefront of efforts to convince car manufacturers to accept responsibility for their actions and compensate those affected, argues Dr. Marten Oosting.
Link: The Parliament.
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Today the Webinar “Closing the Dieselgate Saga: Paving the Way for a Fair and Green Recovery of the European Car Sector” took place. Stichting Car Claim, through former National Ombudsman Marten Oosting, represented the interests of millions of aggrieved European car owners of the Dieselgate scandal during the Webinar.
The full press release can be downloaded here.
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On July 16 2020, dr. Marten Oosting, Chair of the Supervisory Board of Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim gave a speech at the Webinar "Closing the Dieselgate Saga: Paving the Way for a Fair and Green Recovery of the European Car Sector”. The full speech can be dowloaded in pdf through this link.
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The EU's top court has ruled that consumers can sue in the country where they bought Volkswagen vehicles fitted with emissions-cheating devices. The German car giant admitted cheating diesel emission tests in the US after it was claimed some Volkswagen cars were being sold with a "defeat device", or software, which can detect when a test is being carried out and adjust its performance accordingly. Dubbed Dieselgate, the scandal meant some of Volkswagen's cars were polluting more than the accepted limit.
Link: Euronews.
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The 2019 annual report of Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim can be viewed through this link.
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Judges on Monday cleared the way for counties to pursue the automaker, which has already paid more than $20 billion in federal penalties for cheating on pollution tests, under local laws.
Link: New York Times.
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The Federal Court of Justice on Monday ruled against German automaker Volkswagen in the country's first case brought by a car owner over the company's emissions test cheating. The court said that people who had purchased an VW automobile equipped with software that manipulated emissions tests are entitled to financial compensation. They can return the vehicle and receive partial financial reimbursement from the automaker.
Link: DW.com.
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Germany's highest civil court has ruled that Volkswagen must pay compensation to a motorist who had bought one of its diesel minivans fitted with emissions-cheating software. The ruling sets a benchmark for about 60,000 other cases in Germany. The plaintiff, Herbert Gilbert, will be partially reimbursed for his vehicle, with depreciation taken into account.
Link. BBC.com.
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Volkswagen has lost a landmark legal battle in Germany’s highest civil court over compensation for the buyer of a secondhand minivan fitted with emissions-cheating software.
Link: The Guardian.
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Lawyers backed by US and British investors have launched a last-minute offensive against Volkswagen (VW), spending tens of millions of euro to lure claimants away from a settlement VW has offered over the emissions cheating scandal.
Link: The Irish Times.
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Yesterday the Amsterdam District Court declared the claims of the Dutch foundation ‘Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim’ in the Dutch class action against Volkswagen et al. admissible. The court will now assess the merits of the collective claims. This makes the Dutch class action proceedings a frontrunner for other class actions against Volkswagen et al. that are currently pending in Europe. Board member of the foundation Guido van Woerkom said: “Today’s judgment of the Dutch court confirms that the foundation is a sound and respectable organization. The judgment underwrites the continuous efforts of the foundation since October 2015 in the interest of all motorists aggrieved by the Volkswagen emission scandal. The Foundation is committed to reach a solution where affected car owners are reasonably compensated for all negative effects resulting from ‘Dieselgate’. It will continue its efforts in order to ensure that aggrieved
motorists receive compensation for damages suffered.”The full press release can be downloaded here.
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A $75m fine negotiated between Volkswagen and the consumer watchdog over the diesel emissions scandal could be increased by the federal court, after a judge reportedly rejected the deal as “outrageous.”
Link: The Guardian.
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There were over 51 million diesel cars and vans on EU roads in 2018, an increase of 18% over the previous year, according to Transport & Environment (T&E).
T&E analysis of sales figures found that numbers of diesel vehicles continue to grow across the continent even after the ‘dieselgate’ scandal, which revealed that numerous carmakers had been manipulating diesel cars for years in order to pass official air pollution tests by disabling or turning down exhaust after-treatment systems in real-world driving on the road.Link: Environmental Journal.
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Carmaker Volkswagen has settled multimillion-dollar Australian class actions over the global diesel emissions scandal, which affected about 100,000 vehicles locally and 11m worldwide.
The owners of the Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda vehicles will be able to access millions in compensation, the law firm leading the class action, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, said.Link: The Guardian.
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Ferdinand Piëch, the gifted but ruthless engineer who transformed Volkswagen into both the world’s largest carmaker by sales and a company beset by scandals, has died aged 82.
Link: Financial Times.
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German chancellor Angela Merkel has said the German car industry faces a “Herculean task” in its transition to e-mobility, hours after fresh claims that Volkswagen built defeat devices into a second diesel engine model. After touring the stands at Frankfurt’s international motor show, including close inspection of the new electric models from Porsche, its parent company VW denied that cars with an engine from 2012 onwards had software that detected if exhaust tests were being carried out.
Link: Irish Times.
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German authorities have charged the former boss of Audi with fraud as part of an investigation into the VW emissions-cheating scandal. Rupert Stadler is also accused of false certification and criminal advertising practices.
Link: BBC.
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Frankfurt — After more than $30 billion in fines, numerous indicted executives and a guilty plea in the United States, you wouldn’t think there was much more to learn about the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Wrong. Nearly four years after Volkswagen confessed to systematically evading pollution rules for a decade, facets of the scandal are still coming to light. Newly uncovered documents viewed by The New York Times show that Volkswagen’s Audi luxury-car unit was more deeply involved in developing the emissions cheating scheme than previously known, and continued to sell vehicles with illegal software even after the scandal became public.
Link: New York Times.
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Munich prosecutors said on Wednesday they have filed charges against Audi’s former chief executive Rupert Stadler in relation to the Volkswagen diesel scandal. Prosecutors said they charged Mr Stadler and three others based on allegations of fraud and indirect false identification in relation to the development of engines for Audi, VW and Porsche vehicles.
Link: Financial Times.
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The owner of Mercedes-Benz has crashed into the red amid the continuing diesel emissions scandal and the impact of recalling vehicles with faulty airbags.
Link: Times.
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The 2018 annual report of Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim can be viewed through this link.
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The 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal wasn’t just a blow to VW’s reputation, but it also severely damaged other German automakers’ reputations and profits, according to a working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Link: Market Business News.
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VW has suffered a painful defeat in the exhaust gas scandal before the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Koblenz. The 5th Civil Senate of the Superior Regional Court forced the company on Wednesday "for intentional immoral damage" to pay the damages.
Link: News.
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The European commission has charged BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen with colluding to limit the introduction of clean emissions technology, in the preliminary findings of an antitrust investigation. The car manufacturers have 10 weeks to respond and could face fines of billions of euros - up to 10% of their global annual turnover - if their explanations are rejected.
Link: The Guardian.
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BERLIN (Reuters) - Automotive supplier Bosch has agreed to pay a 90 million euros ($100.21 million) fine for lapses in supervisory duties which enabled carmakers to engage in emissions cheating, German prosecutors in the city of Stuttgart said on Friday.
Link: Reuters.
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WASHINGTON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing Volkswagen (VW) and its former chief executive Martin Winterkorn over the German automaker’s diesel emissions scandal, alleging a “massive fraud” on U.S. investors.
Link: Reuters.
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FRANKFURT - Hemanth Kappanna might seem like just another victim of corporate restructuring, a foreign worker whose skills were no longer needed, a middle-aged man with dashed American dreams. But Mr. Kappanna, an engineer born in India who was laid off by General Motors in February, changed automotive history.
Link: New York Times.
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The former boss of Volkswagen (VW) and four other executives face up to a decade in prison after being charged with fraud by German prosecutors over the carmaker's systematic cheating in emissions tests on diesel vehicles. Martin Winterkorn resigned as chief executive in September 2015 after US authorities accused VW of deliberately manipulating its cars' performance under emissions test conditions - meaning its vehicle emissions seemed much less polluting than in normal driving.
Link: The Guardian.
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Germany’s three largest carmakers secretly agreed to equip their vehicles with inferior emissions equipment, European authorities said Friday, a finding that could expose Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW to a large share of the blame for poor air quality in Europe that is believed to cause thousands of deaths annually.
Link: New York Times.
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BERLIN — German prosecutors on Monday filed aggravated fraud charges against Martin Winterkorn, the former chief executive of Volkswagen who led the company when it deceived regulators about its vehicles’ diesel exhaust levels.
Link: New York Times.
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Facing their biggest scandal in recent history, German automakers are scrambling to save face. Environmentalists view their overtures with skepticism, but say recent developments point to a tipping point on the horizon.
Link: DW.
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The US is suing Volkswagen, accusing the German carmaker of "massive fraud" over the diesel emissions scandal. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claims the firm misled investors by issuing billions of dollars worth of bonds and securities, without disclosing that it had cheated emissions tests. Volkswagen's former chief executive Martin Winterkorn is also being sued.
Link: BBC.
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Den Haag. In den Niederlanden herrscht seit einiger Zeit ein Boom der besonderen Art in der Automobilbranche: Immer mehr Menschen wollen ein altes, gebrauchtes, also meist billiges Dieselfahrzeug, ungeachtet der Anfeindungen, die wegen Feinstaubbelastung und Stickoxiden über diesen Antrieb hereingebrochen sind.
Link: Die Presse.
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DüsseldorfBayern ist ein treuer Kunde des Volkswagen-Konzerns, tausende Landesbeamte fahren Autos mit VW- und Audi-Logo. Doch Loyalität hat ihre Grenzen. Das Unternehmen hat im Abgasskandal Umweltbehörden, Zulassungsstellen und Autokunden getäuscht – darunter auch den Freistaat. Der will das den Wolfsburgern nicht so durchgehen lassen: Bayern hat am letzten Tag des Jahres 2018 Klage beim Landgericht München eingereicht. Das hat das Finanzministerium auf Handelsblatt-Nachfrage mitgeteilt.
Link: Handelsblatt.
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- Agreement with civil plaintiffs: Bosch will participate with Fiat Chrysler in settlement with consumers and used car dealers to resolve all private claims concerning Fiat Chrysler diesel vehicles.
- Bosch will pay up to USD 27.5 million to the class.
- Agreement with U.S. states: Bosch will resolve multi-state investigation pertaining to Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler diesel vehicles sold in the U.S.
- Bosch will pay approximately USD 98 million to the respective states.
- Participating U.S. states to release Bosch from all potential consumer protection and environmental claims under their state laws.
- Bosch avoids lengthy and costly proceedings.
- Bosch neither accepts liability nor admits to any allegations.
- Bosch commits to maintain its compliance policies and procedures.
Link: Bosch.
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg plans to sue Volkswagen over the carmaker’s cheating of emissions tests, newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported on Monday.
Link: REUTERS.
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Audi has been fined €800m (£700m) to settle an investigation by German prosecutors into breaches of diesel emissions rules. The premium car brand, owned by Volkswagen, said it "accepts the fine and ... admits its responsibility". In June, VW agreed a €1bn settlement in Germany over the emissions scandal, which came to light in 2015.
Link: BBC.
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On June 27 2018, dr. Marten Oosting, Chair of the Supervisory Board of Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim gave a speech at the Dieselgate Conference in Brussels.
The full speech can be dowloaded in pdf through this link. -
During the multi-stakeholder high level conference “Dieselgate, What Next” that was held on
27 June 2018 in the European Parliament, representatives of the European Commission, of
various stakeholders and of the automobile sector talked about a pan-European solution for the
still looming diesel scandal. Marten Oosting (former National Ombudsman) was one of the
speakers at the conference on behalf of the Dutch non-profit organization “Stichting
Volkswagen Car Claim”.The participation of Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim at the well-attended Dieselgate
conference is an important step in its aim for a total solution for all drivers of affected diesel
cars in Europe. Such a solution must address the problems faced by millions of European car
owners as a result of the use of illegal software. The Foundation is cooperating with various
consumer organizations in Europe in this respect.During the conference Oosting pointed at the responsibility of the European institutions to
ensure that a true and effective dialogue on a solution will be opened between representatives
of the automotive industry on the one hand and a collective platform of all relevant
stakeholders on the other hand. This approach should ensure that Dieselgate-like breaches of
environmental and other regulations cannot take place again. At the same time, the interests of
consumers as well as those of the environment and public health must be protected. In this way
public trust in sustainable car production in Europe could be restored.Oosting: “We are convinced that all parties in the process have a joint responsibility to make
that happen. Ethics, concerns about the environment and public health are by themselves
already sufficient reasons to act. Moreover this conference clearly demonstrates that also
economic challenges that are around the corner offer convincing motivation for all relevant
stakeholders to rapidly solve the problems caused by Dieselgate. If we do not want to waste
time, continue to destroy public trust, to further deteriorate the relations between car
producers and their customers and if we want to prevent another Dieselgate from happening
again, it is time to act now. I sincerely hope that a year from now we can look back on the
scandal and conclude that the solution thereof started today with this conference.”As long as a pan-European solution is not yet available, Volkswagen will remain exposed to a
growing number of legal proceedings in Europe. Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim started
large-scale legal proceedings in May 2018 on behalf of 180,000 owners of affected diesel cars
in the Netherlands against Volkswagen, its (former) CEO’s, SEAT, Audi, Skoda, importer
PON, software supplier Bosch and the Dutch car dealers. The Foundation inter alia claims that
the Dutch court declares that diesel drivers are allowed to return their affected vehicles to the
Dutch dealers against full repayment of the purchase price. For consumers and commercial car
owners who have bought second-hand cars, the Foundation requests the court to confirm that
Volkswagen is liable for all the damage suffered and to be suffered from Dieselgate.Media Contact
Questions related to this press release can be addressed to Esther van Tol or Klaas Roelof
Hofman, press officers at AKD N.V. Email: evantol@akd.nl or krhofman@akd.nl, Phone: +31
88 253 5389 or + 31 88 253 5454.About Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim
Stichting Volkswagen Car Claim is a non-profit organization. The Foundation was
incorporated on 2 October 2015, with the aim to ascertain the (financial) consequences for all
car owners who have purchased a vehicle from one of the brands within the Volkswagen AG
group (Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, and Seat) and who have suffered damage as a result of the
misconduct of Volkswagen et al.The Foundation is committed to reach a solution where affected car owners are reasonably
compensated for any and all negative effects resulting from ‘Dieselgate’. The Foundation also
wants Volkswagen to guarantee that all affected car owners can continue to drive their car in
the future without any possible negative consequences. More information about the Foundation
can be obtained via the website www.stichtingvolkswagencarclaim.nl.The Foundation is governed by an independent management board and supervisory board and
advised by an advisory board. The management board consists of Mr. Fausto Pocar (former
president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)), Mr. Guido
van Woerkom (former president of the Royal Dutch Touring Club (ANWB)) and Mr. Arie van
der Steen (accountant and former CFO of a number of private companies). The supervisory
board consists of Mr. Marten Oosting (former National Ombudsman and former member of the
Council of State) and Mr. Hans de Savornin Lohman (deputy justice at The Hague court of
appeal). The Foundation’s advisory board is presided by Mr. Gerhart Baum, former German
Minister of Interior.