Lax emissions caps in Europe mean that Volkswagen will not need to offer its European customers the same large settlement that it has offered in the United States, the company’s chief executive has said.
Matthias Müller told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper on 3 July, a few days after Volkswagen proposed a $15-billion (€13.5bn) settlement in the US, that the situation in Europe was different. “In the US the emission limits are stricter, which makes the fix more complicated. And taking part in the buyback is voluntary for customers, which is not the case in Germany, for example,” he said.
Müller was responding to a question about Elżbieta Bieńkowska’s call last week for Europeans to get the same settlement. The European commissioner for industry had said that it would be unfair for the people of Europe to be treated differently because of a different legal system.
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