Volkswagen commits to $200M payment to reduce US pollution

Volkswagen remains eager to move past the dieselgate scandal and begin regaining its reputation. But while the German car maker has already reached buyback settlements for owners, there's still the matter of all the damage to the environment VW's vehicles have caused by way of skirting emissions laws. To help address this, the company has pledged to make a $200 million payment to a fund intended to fighting diesel pollution.

The new pledge is expected to made official next week, Reuters notes, adding that this payment is in addition to VW's previous commitments to offset emissions. The company has already agreed to pay $2.7 billion over three years to address the emissions from its roughly 475,000 2.0-liter diesel vehicles, but this additional $200 million is to help cover the 80,000 3-liter diesels that also exceeded limits.

A US district judge has given a deadline of December 19th for VW and regulators to reach an agreement on what will happen to the violating 3.0-liter vehicles. These 80,000 cars, which includes models from Audi and Porsche, could either be bought back, like the 2.0-liter diesels, or fixed to meet emissions limits.

VW remains barred from selling its US diesel models, and hasn't made clear if it plans to one day resume. Its 2.0-liter diesel vehicles were found to emit as much as 40 times the legal limit of emissions, while the 3.0-liter vehicles were exceeding limits by up to nine times.

SOURCE Reuters