Volkswagen has agreed to buy back vehicles equipped with diesel engines affected by the company's Dieselgate scandal in two German cities. Waiving its right to appeal against the decision of the courts in Arnsberg and Bayreuth, the manufacturer will now have to buy back TDI cars in Europe for the first time.
While this is a precedent for Volkswagen customers outside the United States, the automaker says the decision was an exception and stemmed from the low value of the vehicles in question. VW does not expect the two rulings to reflect on other ongoing cases. In an emailed comment sent to Automotive News, the company says it "will use its right to appeal unjustified customer complaints in future."
The situation is quite different at the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Volkswagen has announced multiple times that it hasn't broken any law in Europe and sees no need to compensate TDI owners on the continent. At the same time, the German marque has already agreed to pay approximately $25 billion in different taxes, compensations, and fines in the United States.
"Volkswagen has said all along that it cares for every customer," as EU's commissioner for consumer affairs, Vera Jourova, says, but the only major gesture of compensation for Euro clients will be the extended warranty on diesel cars by two years.
Meanwhile, an independent group of Volkswagen owners from the United Kingdom and The Netherlands is calling for compensations from the manufacturer. About 140,000 customers have already signed a petition as a total of 222,000 are expected to join. This is still a very small portion of the all 8.5 million European customers affected by the Dieselgate.
