In the emissions scandal, consumer protectors in Australia won against Volkswagen. A court sentenced the car company from Wolfsburg to a fine of 125 million Australian dollars (around 77.5 million euros). The German automaker violated the country's consumer law, the judges said. According to the consumer protection agency ACCC, which VW sued, it is the highest court sentence for such a violation in Australia.
Volkswagen said the company would review whether it would contest the court's decision in the coming weeks. An agreement initially reached with the consumer protection agency on a fine of 75 million Australian dollars was appropriate. The court deviated from this amount. The company also said that a lawsuit filed by the Australian consumer organization against VW subsidiary Audi had been dismissed by the court.
The Australian consumer protection agency sued Volkswagen in September 2016. VW customers were cheated because the German company sold more than 57,000 vehicles in Australia with the claim that they were environmentally friendly and caused low emissions, it was said at the time. The lawsuit against the daughter Audi then followed in March 2017.
Irrespective of this legal dispute, Volkswagen had already agreed on a settlement with class plaintiffs in Australia this year. The group announced in September that the 100,000 Australian customers affected by the diesel scandal could expect an average payment of 1,400 Australian dollars (870 euros) if all vehicles participated.
In contrast, many customers in Germany are still wrestling with Volkswagen. The Federal Consumer Association (vzbv) had submitted a model declaratory action against Volkswagen to the regional court in Braunschweig, in order to clear the way for damages for around 445,000 diesel customers affiliated with the lawsuit. The process is still ongoing. The court recently asked VW to consider settlement negotiations.
In September 2015, VW, under pressure from US environmental agencies, admitted that it had cheated on emissions tests on a large scale. The so-called shutdown devices ("defeat devices") were used to style the nitrogen oxide measurements down on the test bench. According to the company's information at the time, the affair affected around eleven million diesel cars worldwide. Because of the "Dieselgate" scandal, the group has already booked more than 30 billion euros in legal costs.