Volkswagen TDI 'clean diesel' television ad screencap
Volkswagen may buy back more than 500,000 illegally polluting cars in the U.S., Reuters reported Wednesday. The news agency’s report follows one from German newspaper Die Welt that the automaker may offer $5,000 to settle with owners of affected cars.
A federal judge in San Francisco is slated to hear the proposed plan from VW on April 21.
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The report doesn’t specify which cars could be eligible for the buyback.
More than 482,000 affected 2.0-liter diesel cars and more than 85,000 3.0-liter diesel SUVs have been sold in the U.S. so far.
That suggests that the buyback could extend to nearly every diesel-powered Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche sold in the U.S. between 2009 and 2015.
The report by Die Welt indicates that European owners could be compensated similarly to U.S. consumers, but it doesn’t specify what that compensation would be.
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When Volkswagen announced last year a “Goodwill Program” for U.S. consumers that included $500 gift cards and a $500 credit to a VW dealer, the automaker said the compensation wouldn’t extend to owners in Europe.
On April 21 Volkswagen was expected to announce to a federal judge its plan to fix affected diesel cars. It’s not clear from the reports what those fixes could be, or even if those cars can be fixed.
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