Volkswagen To Pay $1.21 Billion To U.S. Dealers In Diesel Settlement

Volkswagen is set to make $1.21 billion in payments to its U.S. dealerships as part of its $16.5 billion emissions settlement.

Reuters reports that 652 dealers across the country are set to receive an average of $1.85 million each over 18 months. Additionally, the German brand will buy back select diesel vehicles from showrooms which are failing to sell, suspend the capital improvements it wanted dealerships to make by two years and offer incentive payments to some dealers.

Approximately $10 billion of the settlement will then go towards compensating the 475,000 Volkswagen and Audi owners whose 2.0-liter TDI vehicles were affected by the diesel emissions scandal. These include 2010-15 Golf and Golf Sportwagen TDI models, the 2012-15 Passat TDI, 2010-13 and 2015 Audi A3 TDI, 2009-15 VW Jetta and Jetta SportWagen TDI and 2012-15 Beetle TDI.

As part of the settlement, Volkswagen will also offer to buy back affected models from U.S. customers or for their leases to be terminated. Alternatively, owners can choose to keep their cars and for them to be repaired in line with existing emissions regulations.

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