Audi pays hefty fine over emissions cheating
October 16, 2018
Volkswagen announced Tuesday its subsidiary Audi had agreed to pay an €800 million ($927 million) fine issued by German prosecutors to close a diesel cheating investigation.
The penalty came on top of total costs in fines, buybacks and refits of more than €27 million that Volkswagen had to pay out over its emissions cheating scandal.
The scam involved the use of software allowing vehicles to appear to be meeting regulatory emissions requirements under lab conditions, while in fact they were spewing out many times more harmful gases like nitrogen oxides (NOx) on the road.
Audi CEO behind bars
Investigators pursued Audi over V6 and V8 engines it built into its own vehicles, VW's own-brand cars and models from fellow subsidiary Porsche as well as over Audi vehicles fitted with cheating VW-built engines.
In total, the case dealt with almost 5 million cars worldwide, built between 2004 and 2018.
While the probe into Audi as a company is now closed, other cases against managers from the VW Group including former CEO Martin Winterkorn remain open, with charges ranging from fraud to false advertising and failure to keep investors informed.
At Audi itself, former Chief Executive Rupert Stadler was removed from his post by VW earlier this month.
Prosecutors had jailed him in June, saying the move was necessary to stop him trying to influence witnesses.
hg/aos (Reuters, AP)