Volkswagen’s mass recall in the United States of engines rigged to cheat emissions tests is proving to be more difficult and costly than expected, the beleaguered German carmaker said Friday.
The bill so far for the scandal has risen to 25.1 billion euros (29.6 billion dollars), after VW was hit with additional costs of 2.5 billion euros in the third quarter as it tries to rectify the situation, the company announced.
Since admitting to installing emissions-cheating software in its vehicles in September 2015, Europe’s largest carmaker has been in talks with customers and governments over compensation and damages for the software, which was installed on 11 million cars worldwide.
Volkswagen reached a deal in mid-2016 to compensate owners of cars in the US with 2-litre diesel engines. Under the agreement, the company
either has to buy back the affected cars or modify them to bring them into compliance with the law.
The company has incurred some 25 billion dollars in costs to settle civil, criminal and regulatory cases in the US and Canada.
On Friday, VW warned that profits would take a further hit, saying that the agreed refitting and recall procedure for 2-litre diesel engines were “significantly more tedious and technically demanding” than expected.
