Volkswagen Announces Fixes For "Dieselgate" Drivers

After seven months of seemingly endless turmoil for Volkswagen, the automaker recently announced it has reached a consensus with the Environmental Protection Agency and California state officials in a San Francisco court. Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer informed VW last month that they had until April 21 to come up with a "concrete solution" to the company's diesel emission issues. 

The "agreement-in-principle" states that VW will offer to either buy back polluting vehicles from customers, offer them a lease cancellation option, or offer to repair their affected vehicles. The deal is also said to offer "substantial compensation" for affected owners.

Consumers will not have to decide which option they wish to pursue until they have received formal, written notice from Volkswagen. 

This deal only applies to the 482,000 or so Volkswagens and Audis with  2.0 liter diesels, not the 80,000 VWs, Audis, and Porches with 3.0 liter V6 engines.

Judge Breyer went on to say that this agreement will set up two separate funds. One will be set up to invest money to "promote green automotive" initiatives, while the other will be an "environmental remediation fund" to help offset the damage VW's "defeat devices" have done to the environment.

VW is already reported to have set aside $18 billion to cover these costs, as well as any fines and penalties that will be assessed. The German auto giant also reported major financial losses of about $6.2 billion last year, which is shocking when you consider that their profits from 2014 totaled around around $2.8 billion.