Key numbers in the Volkswagen emissions-cheating scandal

Volkswagon also announced a separate settlement with at least 44 US states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico that will cost at least $600 million, bringing the total to as much as $15.3 billion. Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear said almost 3,200 owners of the high-performance diesel vehicles will receive payments of at least $5,100 as well as either having their vehicles bought back by the company or modified to reduce emissions.

Poetsch said the USA agreement will allow VW “to take another important step toward overcoming the diesel issue”.

The settlement covers 475,000 VW Group vehicles including the Golf, Jetta, Beetle, Passat and the Audi A3 that use the 2.0-liter VW TDI diesel engine and were from the 2009 to 2015 model years. Or the company will fix your vehicle.

The company believes it can fix the 3-liter to the standard with which the cars were originally certified. The $2.7 billion in environmental mitigation will go toward offsetting the increased pollution, the agency said. VW agreed to either buy back or repair the vehicles – although it hasn’t yet developed a fix for the problem. “Also there will be an opportunity for Volkswagen to fix the vehicles that were affected and also partake in a cash settlement of some amount”.

Owners can still decline Volkswagen’s offer and sue the company on their own.

If VW were required to buy back the larger, more expensive 3.0-liter vehicles, it could add billions to its costs.

“This historic agreement holds Volkswagen accountable for its betrayal of consumer trust and requires Volkswagen to fix the environmental damage it caused”, said Elizabeth Cabraser, the lead attorney for consumers who sued the company. Cabraser said plaintiffs also are pursuing a case against German auto supplier Bosch, which supplied engine control computers for VW diesels.

Volkswagen said it will begin the settlement program as soon as the court grants final approval to the settlement agreements.

On Monday, owners of Audi and Volkswagen cars submitted a petition to South Korea’s environment ministry and asked the ministry to open a probe into all models of Audi and Volkswagen cars over possible fabrication of emissions tests. The company ducked and dodged the EPA’s testing routine for seven years, but is now certainly paying the price. But after passing the tests, the vehicles dumped up to 40 times the EPA-approved levels of pollutants when driving on roads. Jason Keyser in Chicago and Sudhin Thanawala in San Francisco contributed.