Volkswagen to pay $157m in diesel settlement with 10 US states

Volkswagen has agreed to pay an additional $157m to settle environmental claims relating to its cheating of emissions tests with 10 US states, increasing the costs of the diesel scandal in North America to nearly $25bn.

The world’s largest carmaker said on Thursday it reached an agreement with 10 US attorneys general, including those in New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, regarding alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.

The settlement follows a $603m agreement with 44 US states last June, which related to state consumer protection claims. The June agreement covered consumer claims for a half-million 2.0-litre cars but did not include claims for injunctive relief or anything related to approximately 80,000 3.0-litre cars, which are covered by the new settlement.

Volkswagen pleaded guilty in a US courtroom earlier this month to three criminal counts relating to the fraud, in which it equipped diesel cars with software that understated emissions of harmful nitrogen oxides in official tests.

The costs of the scandal to the German carmaker are now up to $24.5bn in North America, where authorities uncovered the cheating. VW has not paid any fines in Europe, where it installed similar cheat software in almost 9m cars. It has resisted any argument that it breached EU laws.