The German Constitutional Court condemned Monday May 25 Volkswagen partially reimburse a customer who bought a car equipped with a rigged diesel engine, in a judgment which is expected to influence tens of thousands of proceedings five years after the scandal broke out.
By equipping its cars with software capable of making them appear less polluting than they actually are, the German automobile group has knowingly and systematically deceived for several years
authorities with a view to profitability
, explained judge Stephan Seiters.
The German automotive group admitted in September 2015 that it had used a program to manipulate the pollutant emissions of its diesel engines to distort tests in the United States.
This is the first notable legal setback by the automobile giant in Germany in this scandal which has plunged the German automobile industry, pillar of the country’s economy, into a historic crisis from which it is still struggling to emerge.
11 million vehicles affected worldwide
The Court was interested in the case of Herbert Gilbert, 65, who bought a used Volkswagen Sharan diesel in 2014, one of the 11 million vehicles in which the manufacturer admitted in September 2015 to have placed software under -estimating polluting emissions.
By returning his vehicle to Volkswagen, the retiree is entitled to a refund, but this one must take into account
the use of the vehicle and therefore its loss of value over time, thus excluding a full refund of the purchase price.
The decision comes after the end in April of an unprecedented trial in Germany, similar to a class action
American style bringing together hundreds of thousands of applicants.
Volkswagen will spend at least 750 million euros to compensate 235,000 customers under an amicable agreement, a sum that may seem small compared to the more than 30 billion euros that the scandal has already cost the manufacturer , mainly in the United States.
An agreement found in the United States
In the USA, most of the car owners involved in the scandal agreed to a $ 25 billion deal in 2016, but Volkswagen has long argued that German motorists are not entitled to claim compensation due to differences in legislation.
In February, however, the group agreed, in vain, to to pay 830 million euros to the Federation of German Consumer Associations (VZBV), which had launched a collective legal action against the manufacturer as part of the dieselgate
.
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