The German car maker and the largest manufacturer of cars in the world Volkswagen has been dealt another blow by a German Court. The car maker which is already reeling under the pressure of a number of emissions scandal related court cases, was ordered to refund each and every owner of the Golf the full original price of his vehicle bought in 2012.
The car maker said that it would appeal the ruling at the higher regional court because it believes that the law has been misspelled by the court in Augsburg.
The media reported a spokesman for the court as saying that according to the ruling of the Augsburg civil court, the act of installation of software that was designed to cheat on diesel emission norms in the United States and in Europe was immoral and deliberate and the sole aim of the company for that act was to further increase the sale of its cars and increase profits.
According to a copy of the ruling as reported in the media, the original price of almost 30,000 euros ($34,200) has been ordered to be paid by VW to each owner of the car by the court.
“In our opinion, there is no legal basis for customer complaints. Customers have suffered neither losses nor damages. The vehicles are safe and roadworthy,” VW said in a statement circulated to the media.
The company further states in the statement that various courts across the world have till now passed about 9,000 judgements in relation to the diesel emission cheating scandal which was first made public in 2015 and that most of those 9000 cases which were related to customer complaints had not been successful to win against the company at district and higher level courts.
“The decision of the district court in Augsburg thereby stands in contradiction to multiple decisions of other courts in comparable cases,” VW said.
During the height of the scandal, VW had admitted that the diesel emission cheating software had been installed in about 11 million diesel cars throughout the world. This software allowed the cars to easily display lower than required values for diesel emissions and ultimately flout environment pollution oorms of various countries.
The German car maker has also announced its intention to settle its court cases in and claims from owners, environmental regulators, states and dealers in the United States against payment of billions of dollars. The company had also offered a buy back package for its cars that were polluting in the US.
While the matter has almost been settled by the company in the US, it is a different scenario in the Germany and in rest of Europe where no settlement has been able to be reached. This is considered to be the worst crisis that the company has had to face in its history as it faces claims and possible fines to the tune of billions of euros from both investors and customers.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
The car maker said that it would appeal the ruling at the higher regional court because it believes that the law has been misspelled by the court in Augsburg.
The media reported a spokesman for the court as saying that according to the ruling of the Augsburg civil court, the act of installation of software that was designed to cheat on diesel emission norms in the United States and in Europe was immoral and deliberate and the sole aim of the company for that act was to further increase the sale of its cars and increase profits.
According to a copy of the ruling as reported in the media, the original price of almost 30,000 euros ($34,200) has been ordered to be paid by VW to each owner of the car by the court.
“In our opinion, there is no legal basis for customer complaints. Customers have suffered neither losses nor damages. The vehicles are safe and roadworthy,” VW said in a statement circulated to the media.
The company further states in the statement that various courts across the world have till now passed about 9,000 judgements in relation to the diesel emission cheating scandal which was first made public in 2015 and that most of those 9000 cases which were related to customer complaints had not been successful to win against the company at district and higher level courts.
“The decision of the district court in Augsburg thereby stands in contradiction to multiple decisions of other courts in comparable cases,” VW said.
During the height of the scandal, VW had admitted that the diesel emission cheating software had been installed in about 11 million diesel cars throughout the world. This software allowed the cars to easily display lower than required values for diesel emissions and ultimately flout environment pollution oorms of various countries.
The German car maker has also announced its intention to settle its court cases in and claims from owners, environmental regulators, states and dealers in the United States against payment of billions of dollars. The company had also offered a buy back package for its cars that were polluting in the US.
While the matter has almost been settled by the company in the US, it is a different scenario in the Germany and in rest of Europe where no settlement has been able to be reached. This is considered to be the worst crisis that the company has had to face in its history as it faces claims and possible fines to the tune of billions of euros from both investors and customers.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
