Volkswagen Lawyer: Automaker May Buy Back Unfixable Cars

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

A lawyer for Volkswagen said in court that the automaker would buy back cars that it can’t fix in time, the first admission from the company that some of its cars may not be fixable, according to the New York Times.

Volkswagen lawyer Robert Giuffra told a court last week during hearings related to the class-action lawsuits facing the automaker that the company hadn’t determined how many cars would be affected.

“We might have to do a buyback or some sort of a solution like that for some subset of the vehicles, but that hasn’t been determined yet,” Giuffra said according to the report.

Last year, reports from Germany indicated that the company was preparing to buy back up to 115,000 older diesel cars that couldn’t be repaired.

Those cars would likely be older cars, fitted with Volkswagen’s EA189 engines, which Volkswagen of America boss Michael Horn told Congress in October would need significant hardware revisions to bring into compliance — without any severe impacts on performance and fuel economy.

Horn told Congress that the vast majority of affected cars in the U.S. are older models with the EA189 engine — perhaps more than 300,000 cars.


Aaron Cole
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  • See 7 up See 7 up on Jan 29, 2016

    In the meantime, slap the gti drivetrain in the sportwagen since nobody really wants the 1.8tsi, maybe even the an r version too but I settle on the former.

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    • See 7 up See 7 up on Jan 29, 2016

      @Kyree Yes, they make a Golf R wagon. But cars that are manufactured but not sold in the USA basically don't exist for me. The fact they exist somewhere else does not make the available offerings more enticing. not sure if they make a gti wagon, but given its popularity, and the lack of a tdi (or future tdi sales) a gti wagon would make sense to me (then again, almost all cars I like don't sell well)

  • Xflowgolf Xflowgolf on Jan 29, 2016

    I'm the current owner of a likely potential buyout car. '11 Golf TDI 6-speed. I like the car a lot still, but I'd be very interested in a buyout, as I've gotten good usage out of the car, and it's showing its age. It would have to be structured as an advantage to the owner to make it appealing, or to their benefit to take it. Didn't Toyota offer something like 150% of KBB for the rusty Tacoma frame trucks? Basically you didn't have to take it, but you'd have to be a special kind of stubborn not to. I can see VW doing something similar if they want to come out with any goodwill left. Offer a value based on pre-scandal KBB + XX% to tip it in the favor of the owner. An additional "buy a new VW discount" on top of that would likely keep at least a few more butts in VW seats until this fiasco is put in the history books.

  • Astrocortex Astrocortex on Jan 29, 2016

    I dont know what I'd do if they wanted to buy back my Touareg TDI. I kinda love it.

  • Jthorner Jthorner on Jan 30, 2016

    VW should reimburse the current owner of the vehicle every penny they paid for it at the point of purchase including taxes, fees, registration and so on. Treat it like a lemon law repurchase. Sure the owner got some use that had economic value, but VW didn't provide the vehicle it claimed to be providing. Every penny VW got from the original sale should be refunded, and the other costs the buyer had should be considered a modest penalty for VW's outright fraud. If the car was purchased new by the current owner, go back to the original sale. If if was purchased used, then refund based on that transaction.

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