Full Coverage: Volkswagen’s emissions scandal

Volkswagen took a big step toward trying to fix its tattered reputation Tuesday as a federal judge formally approved a $14.7-billion settlement of the automaker’s emissions cheating case.

A $15-billion settlement over Volkswagen’s emissions cheating scandal cleared a key hurdle Tuesday, with a federal judge in San Francisco giving preliminary approval to a deal that includes an option for owners to have the carmaker buy back their vehicles.

New York state, Massachusetts and Maryland are suing Volkswagen and its affiliates Audi and Porsche over diesel emissions cheating, alleging that the German automakers defrauded customers by selling diesel vehicles equipped with software enabling them to cheat emissions testing.

The California Air Resources Board is rejecting a Volkswagen plan to recall certain diesel passenger cars, calling the proposal incomplete and deficient.

Volkswagen has agreed to pay  up to $14.7 billion to settle government allegations in the U.S. linked to its cheating on emissions tests and to buy back or terminate the leases of nearly half a million of its cars.

A settlement announced early Tuesday over Volkswagen’s rigging of vehicle emissions tests — as clear a case of fraud as you can find — will be good for consumers who, based on VW’s lies, bought diesel cars that secretly spewed unlawfully high levels of pollutants and climate-warming gases into the air.

German prosecutors are investigating former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and an unnamed executive over allegations they didn’t inform investors soon enough about the company’s scandal over cars rigged to cheat on U.S. diesel emissions tests.

Here’s one way to atone for the biggest emissions cheating scandal in automobile history: Go all out on zero-emission vehicles.

Volkswagen has announced an $11.3-million investment in California as the automaker works to recover from its emissions cheating scandal. 

Volkswagen and attorneys for vehicle owners affected by the company’s emissions cheating scandal are on target to meet a June deadline for a final settlement proposal, a federal judge said Tuesday. 

Carmaker Volkswagen on Friday capped two grim days for the German auto industry by revealing that its diesel emissions cheating cost it a chunky $18.2 billion for 2015 alone — and that’s likely only a part of the total bill.

It’s been seven months since the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal broke, and the affected cars still aren’t fixed, although the automaker appears ready to buy back at least some of them.

Volkswagen unveiled a broad plan to help U.S. owners of nearly 500,000 emissions-cheating diesel cars as the company tries to resolve one of the worst scandals in automotive history.

Volkswagen, the U.S. government and private lawyers have reached a deal for the automaker to spend just over $1 billion to compensate owners of about 600,000 diesel-powered cars that cheat on emissions tests, according to a person briefed on the matter.

A federal consumer watchdog is suing Volkswagen, alleging the company made false claims in commercials promoting its “clean diesel” vehicles as environmentally friendly.

A federal judge Thursday gave Volkswagen and environmental regulators another month to devise a plan for fixing or removing nearly 600,000 diesel cars in the United States involved in Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating scandal.

Volkswagen Group’s big institutional investors, including California’s huge public pension fund, are suing the German automaker for $3.57 billion in damages over its handling of the emissions scandal, which has seen VW’s stock price shrivel by a third.

Volkswagen deleted documents and obstructed justice after the U.S.

Two giant California pension funds plan to sue Volkswagen in a German court, joining other institutional investors who argue the automaker should pay for losses they experienced since the revelation last year that VW cheated on emissions tests.

Volkswagen’s top U.S. executive is stepping down amid the company’s ongoing emissions cheating scandal, the company announced Wednesday.

The California Air Resources Board has rejected Volkswagen’s proposed fix for diesel passenger vehicles outfitted with “defeat devices” that allow them to emit illegal levels of pollutants.

The U.S.

A judicial panel on Tuesday decided to consolidate hundreds of lawsuits against Volkswagen over its emissions cheating scandal in California, a focal point of the carmaker’s troubles.

South Korea said Thursday that it has fined Volkswagen $12.3 million and ordered recalls of 125,522 diesel vehicles after the government found their emissions tests were rigged.

Volkswagen’s emissions cheating scandal widened Friday after the U.S.

Volkswagen is offering $500 in cash and $500 in VW dealer credit to owners of its diesel cars, a first step in compensating them in the wake of a global emissions-test cheating scandal.

The widening Volkswagen emissions-test cheating scandal has enveloped a wide array of Porsche and Audi six-cylinder diesel vehicles as California and federal regulators levied fresh charges that the automaker used software to hide pollution.

A beleaguered Volkswagen employed deep discounts just to maintain flat sales in October — while the industry boomed, with a double-digit surge over last year.

Responding to new Environmental Protection Agency charges, Volkswagen is denying it installed software to cheat U.S. emissions tests in six-cylinder diesels from VW, Porsche and Audi.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday levied additional charges against Volkswagen, pulling its subsidiary Porsche into the global emissions-cheating scandal.

In hindsight, it’s clear how Volkswagen, in the 2009 model year, seemed to have nailed the elusive formula for affordable, sporty diesel cars — when none of its competitors could crack the code.

Volkswagen said it lost 1.67 billion euros ($1.83 billion) for the third quarter as it set aside 6.7 billion euros to pay for recalling and fixing cars that were rigged to evade U.S. diesel emissions tests.

Toyota Motor Corp. snatched the global auto sales lead back from Volkswagen Group in the third quarter.

Germany’s transport authority has ordered a mandatory recall of all 2.4 million Volkswagen cars in the country fitted with software that gave them the ability to evade diesel emissions testing, officials said Thursday.

The veteran executive tapped to take charge of Volkswagen’s North American operations quit Wednesday just weeks after taking the post — the latest sign of an accelerating downward spiral for the world’s largest automaker.

California owners of Volkswagen diesel cars caught up in the emissions-test rigging scandal might have a shot at getting the German automaker to buy back the vehicles.

Volkswagen’s sales pitch captured exactly what Jonathan Lea wanted — a sporty car that logged top fuel economy and was so green the federal government rewarded buyers with a $1,300 tax credit.

Volkswagen, having withdrawn its application to sell diesel vehicles in the U.S. for the 2016 model year, is telling dealers that it hopes to put diesels back on showroom floors.

Volkswagen’s U.S. chief apologized to lawmakers for the automaker’s diesel emissions scandal, saying the the company was “determined to make things right” and prepared to accept “the consequences of our acts.”

Volkswagen, reeling from its ever-widening diesel emissions scandal, has quietly begun a campaign to persuade owners to stay with the brand.

Volkswagen’s stunning admission that it rigged its diesel cars to pass emissions tests is setting up one of the largest, costliest legal cases in U.S. history.

September auto sales were so strong in the U.S. that even Volkswagen squeezed out a gain — despite halting all sales of its diesel cars because of an emissions test-rigging scandal.

The Volkswagen emissions test-rigging scandal is going to cost all consumers and manufacturers as the industry is forced to spend more on pollution-control systems.

For the environmental black marks they’ve received, Volkswagen and Audi have been asked to give up the green.

Volkswagen has designed a recall repair for the diesel vehicles involved in its global emissions cheating scandal -- but not for U.S. vehicles.

Lost in the flurry of corporate malfeasance and consumer outrage over the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal is another victim -- the Volkswagen dealer.

Hundreds of thousands of Volkswagen diesel cars on the road in the United States with “defeat devices” are spewing 10 to 40 times the allowed amount of nitrogen oxide into the air — and will never be repaired.

German prosecutors on Monday opened an investigation against former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn to establish what his role was in the emissions-rigging scandal that has shaken the world’s largest automaker.

As CEO resignations go, this one didn’t come as much of a surprise.

Volkswagen’s emissions cheating scandal has shaken the auto industry on both sides of the Atlantic, displacing the company’s chief executive and sparking investigations in the U.S. and Europe.

Working to recover from a widespread cheating scheme to evade emissions regulations, Volkswagen named the top manager of its Porsche subsidiary as chief executive of the parent company.

Working with regulators in California and Canada, the Environmental Protection Agency will retest the emissions from every type of diesel passenger car in the U.S..

The expanding Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal now includes 11 million vehicles worldwide and has severely damaged the giant automaker’s credibility and market value.

A lot of attention has been focused this week on Volkswagen and the scandal that it cheated on emissions tests its vehicles must pass to help combat air pollution.

Saying he was “not aware of any wrongdoing on my part,” Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned Wednesday, less than a week after U.S. environmental regulators revealed that the company had secretly installed software in its diesel-powered cars to cheat on emissions tests.

The expanding Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal now includes 11 million vehicles worldwide, and threatens to destroy the credibility and market value of a global behemoth that was already showing signs of instability.

The federal government paid out as much as $51 million in green car subsidies for Volkswagen diesel vehicles based on falsified pollution test results, according to a Times analysis of the federal incentives.

The Environmental Protection Agency has accused Volkswagen of using a “defeat device” to trick emissions tests into thinking its four-cylinder VW and Audi diesel cars are less polluting than they are, and Volkswagen has apologized and said it will correct the problem.

Volkswagen called them “clean diesels,” branding them as the fun-to-drive alternatives to hybrids as it dominated the U.S. market for the engine technology.

Volkswagen shares tumbled almost 20% Monday, a day after the company’s chief executive apologized for having “broken the trust” of its customers for evading U.S. emissions regulations.

The investigation into Volkswagen’s alleged attempt to circumvent emissions standards on nearly half a million diesel vehicles could give a black eye to both the brand and diesel technology.

Volkswagen should be able to sell more of these vehicles than it does.

In a U.S. auto market dominated by gasoline-powered trucks, SUVs, crossovers and family sedans, Volkswagen is taking a contrarian stand by introducing a new model of its diesel station wagon.

A decade ago, drivers who wanted to go green had little choice beyond Toyota’s Prius hybrid.