VW reaches $25 million dieselgate settlement in Austria

VIENNA — German carmaker Volkswagen (VW) has reached a 23 million-euro ($25 million) out-of-court settlement with Austrian customers affected by the "dieselgate" scandal, a consumer protection group said on Wednesday.

VW admitted in 2015 to installing software to rig emissions levels in millions of diesel vehicles worldwide, setting off one of Germany's biggest post-war industrial scandals.

In Austria, the national consumer protection association VKI filed 16 complaints for 10,000 VW customers in "the largest wave of complaints ever filed" in the Alpine EU country.

"The people affected paid too much for their vehicles," VKI said in a statement, announcing reaching the out-of-court settlement.

VW in a statement said it "welcomed the solution found with the VKI".

Originally VKI had sought more than 60 million euros based on their claim that the value of the vehicles fell 20 per cent.

Overall, the scandal has already cost VW around 30 billion euros in fines, legal costs and compensation to car owners, mainly in the United States.

The scandal has also ensnared several other top European carmakers and car part suppliers over their alleged roles in the development of the cheating software.

In 2022, the European Court of Justice also ruled illegal software fitted to VW diesel vehicles which deactivate the filtering of polluting emissions at certain temperatures.