Volkswagen ‘DieselGate’ fix in Europe is just a Goodwill Gesture
Volkswagen are maintaining that the defeat device fitted to cars in Europe was legal, and that the dieselgate fix is just a gesture of goodwill. And NOx is harmless.
In the USA, VW has bent over backwards to accommodate, taken a mea culpa stance and compensated everyone from buyers to dealers to the tune of more than $16 billion. But it’s a very different story in the UK and Europe.
Volkswagen has been rejecting claims from governments and owners to compensate those who’ve bought a VW with a defeat device, but their stance is now even more entrenched.
Following a court case in Spain where the owner of a car fitted with a defeat device was awarded €5,000 compensation and VW’s local subsidiaries fined, Volkswagen has now decided to go on the offensive in Europe, doubtless hoping they can fend off the possibility of mass claims in Europe which could easily reach €100 billion if European owners, dealers and governments were compensated in the same way as in the US
Volkswagen has claimed before that the defeat device is legal in Europe, but they’re now going further, claiming that the ‘fix’ they have developed (which may or may not work) is just a ‘Goodwill Gesture’, despite VW being ordered by Germany’s KBA to recall all 8.5 million affected cars in Europe, because they have done nothing wrong.
Now, just to be on the safe side in case an argument is made that the additional NOx emitted from VW’s cars because of the defeat device has caused deaths, VW are claiming that NOx is harmless.
German press is reporting VW’s statement on NOx emissions:
A reliable determination of morbidity or even fatalities for certain demographic groups based on our level of knowledge is not possible from a scientific point of view.
Which sounds much like a statement from s tobacco company in the 1960s.
But perhaps Volkswagen knows best.
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