Audi agrees to pay US$927m 鈥榙ieselgate鈥 fine
Print Edition
Auto giant Volkswagen cleared a new hurdle in its 鈥渄ieselgate鈥 scandal yesterday, paying a hefty fine to close a German investigation into subsidiary Audi, but the group is not yet in the clear over its years of emissions cheating.
In a statement, Volkswagen said high-end manufacturer Audi had agreed to pay an 800-million-euro (US$927 million) fine issued by Munich prosecutors.
鈥淎udi AG has accepted the fine鈥 for 鈥渄eviations from regulatory requirements in certain V6 and V8 diesel aggregates (motors) and diesel vehicles,鈥 the group said.
In their own communique, Munich prosecutors confirmed their so-called 鈥渁dministrative proceeding鈥 against Audi was now 鈥渃losed.鈥
VW admitted in 2015 to building so-called 鈥渄efeat devices鈥 into 11 million cars worldwide, in a massive cheating scandal dubbed 鈥渄ieselgate.鈥
Software allowed vehicles to appear to meet emissions rules under lab conditions, while in fact spewing many times more harmful gases like nitrogen oxides on the road.
Yesterday鈥檚 fine brings the total costs to Volkswagen from 鈥渄ieselgate鈥 to more than 28 billion euros since 2015 鈥 most of that in penalties, buybacks and refits in the United States.
VW paid a 1 billion euro penalty to Brunswick prosecutors in June over its own-brand vehicles.
The fines leave just sports car subsidiary Porsche still facing an 鈥渁dministrative鈥 diesel case among the group鈥檚 companies.
And while the June fine flowed into a total of 1.6 billion euros paid out over 鈥渄ieselgate鈥 in the second quarter, the car giant reported profits up 3.4 percent year on year between April and June, at 3.3 billion.
Relieved investors welcomed the Audi news.
Despite yesterday鈥檚 agreement, other probes against individual managers and executives from the VW group remain open.
Targets include former chief executives Martin Winterkorn and Matthias Mueller, present VW boss Herbert Diess and supervisory board chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch.
At Audi itself, former chief executive Rupert Stadler was removed from his post by VW earlier this month.
Prosecutors had jailed him in June, saying this was necessary to stop him trying to influence witnesses in his case over fraud and issuing false certificates.
In a Brunswick court case, investors are pursuing Volkswagen with claims totaling some 9.0 billion euros over the shares鈥 40-percent plunge in value in the days after 鈥渄ieselgate鈥 was unveiled.
They say executives should have informed them sooner of the risks to the group.
And a similar case with a potential billion-euro price tag is under way in Stuttgart against holding company Porsche SE, which owns a controlling stake in VW.
The German government has opened a route for car owners to launch collective cases against the manufacturers, with a first one expected for early November. The 鈥渄ieselgate鈥 fallout is far from confined to Volkswagen. German stalwarts like BMW and Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler have also become the targets of official probes, while French-owned Opel faced a new investigation on Monday.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
