Volkswagen Settlement Nears; Start Planning That Goodbye Party for Your Dirty Diesel
Owners of 2.0-liter Volkswagen diesels will have to wait a little longer before learning exactly when their rolling pariahs will leave their driveways.
The automaker is on track to meet a June 21 settlement deadline, a federal judge stated yesterday, but details on the wildly expensive U.S. buyback and compensation program won’t be made public just yet.
Volkswagen has until that date to submit a written proposal to U.S. authorities and regulators. Preliminary approval of the plan, rumored to cost more than $10 billion, could come at a July 26 hearing.
What can owners expect in terms of compensation cash? And when are all of those Golfs, Jettas and Passats heading to the afterlife? Stay tuned. Specifics of the plan to remove the 480,000 heavily polluting vehicles from the road remain confidential until the deal is completed.
U.S. District judge Charles Breyer reminded Volkswagen that a buyback program, owner compensation, and environmental remediation fund must be part of the settlement.
The automaker already has a pact with federal and state regulators for the environmental fund, which aims to offset the excess pollution emitted by the company’s vehicles since 2009.
A settlement for a class-action lawsuit should come within a few weeks, and a plan to fix 85,000 3.0-liter diesels will be announced soon, the company said. That fix is expected to be done through software upgrades and (possibly) a catalytic converter replacement.
In total, Volkswagen set aside $18.2 billion to manage the fallout of the scandal.
[Source: Bloomberg]
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The newer cheating diesels are cleaner than the old ones, the particulate emissions are basically zero on the new ones whereas the circa 2002 still spouted black clouds under heavy loads; not sure about the nitric oxide though (there are excellent articles and posts detailing why diesel engines put out certain pollutants under certain circumstances, interesting reading on the TDI club forums and elsewhere). Anyway the post had new news: "The automaker is on track to meet a June 21 settlement deadline, a federal judge stated yesterday..." That's something: they have not delayed and are on track. I'm glad to hear it.
Sell me a brand new VW diesel for $15K, I won't return it, I won't take any payoff, and I won't complain.
Plenty of E63 wagons are conveniently coming off of lease as my GSW TDI gets bought back by VW. The gods want me to exchange exhaust smoke for tire smoke.
There's nothing really confidential about the settlement. The cars will be bought back and destroyed. Most will be replaced with brand new cars. Hmmm...that whole process to recycle and manufacture a car is almost always less favorable than keeping the car on the road. Look at the socialist experiment that was Cash for Clunkers...keeping that trusty old 1995 Ford Explorer on the road was better for the environment than scrapping it on trade for an econobox. So much for aiming towards environmental compliance...