Volkswagen agreed to a hugely expensive compensation plan for their TDI diesel car owners here in the U.S., but it looks like that compensation plan won’t be making it across the pond.
According to Reuters, VW CEO Matthias Mueller recently told a German newspaper that they can’t easily afford a similar payout plan for European owners. “You don’t have to be a mathematician to realize that compensation at arbitrarily high levels would overwhelm Volkswagen.”
That’s a massive problem for VW, but they do have something to use in their defense – European emissions regulations are much more relaxed than the laws in the U.S. “In the U.S. the [emission] limits are stricter, which makes the fix more complicated. And taking part in the buyback is voluntary [for customers], which is note the case in Germany, for example,” Mueller said.
Even though there might be different emissions regulations, the Industry Commissioner of Europe, Elzbieta Bienkowska, has told VW to drain their coffers and pay European owners, saying it would be unfair to treat them differently than U.S. customers.
VW has already set aside at least $10 billion to settle it’s so-called “Dieselgate” scandal Stateside. Owners can choose to have their TDI vehicles repaired, or sell them back to VW. Most owners will receive anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 as compensation. VW has agreed to put $2.7 billion into an environmental trust to offset their excess diesel emissions, and they will also invest $2 billion to bolster the United States’ EV (electric vehicle) charging infrastructure and promote other clean vehicle programs.
What’s my two cents on VW’s refusal? I certainly see their point, and I get that they want to save money. However, they are a gigantic market player in Europe, and are gaining traction here in the U.S. But, owner satisfaction should always come first, and treating European owners differently just because European emissions laws aren’t as stringent as U.S. emissions laws is straight-up foolish. If they want to lose customers, owners, and more importantly, their reputation, then going forward with this plan is a great idea. In the light of Brexit, the European Union is going to go through massive economic changes in the months to come, and to me, it seems like Bienkowska won’t back down from her position on forcing VW to pay European owners as well. VW is already facing massive scrutiny and pressure from both the U.S. government, as well as U.S. owners. It should come as no surprise that the European Union is going to come after them as well. It’s only going to be a matter of time before European owners jump on this bandwagon also.
The Unmuffled Auto News 
your writing has improved to the point that you have zero emissions
You most mean omissions, right?
np..i said what i meant to say….it’s a play on words
omissions doesn’t make better sense
i see my comment has posted
seems like it takes a while compared to the past
hugs
I supporrt a VWEXIT!
I do too!
I am stunned that Europe has more relaxed emission standards than we do. I fully expected theirs to be more stringent than ours. Unbelievable.
Europe has always had more relaxed emissions, fuel economy, and crash laws than the U.S. That’s why many cars that us Americans want to come to our side of the pond can’t. Most of the time, their emissions barely squeak by, but it’s their crash test results in Europe that scare NHTSA. BMW has made plenty of special-edition M3’s that we would love to have, but because BMW removed some bits and pieces that help the garden-variety M3’s pass crash tests here. It’s unfortunate, but it’s been that way since the mid-1980s or so.