A few years ago when it first began to emerge that some diesel Mercedes’s may cheat emission tests, a Daimler spokesman said, “All of our cars meet regulatory requirements.” Today, Daimler announced that it would pay billions to regulate civil and regulatory proceedings over emission invitations.
Daimler said $ 1.5 billion would be spent on settlements with federal and state agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Board, the U.S. Department of Justice, the California Attorney General’s Office, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A further $ 700 million would be spent to arrange a class action lawsuit against it, including attorneys’ fees.
The settlements are not yet final yet, but this is also the kind of thing you do not announce unless everyone is already on board. From Daimler’s announcement:
The deposits are subject to the final approval of the relevant authorities and courts. The agreement in principle with the US government agencies will be reflected in binding consent decisions. In the coming weeks, authorities will then submit the consent decisions to a U.S. District Court for final approval. The U.S. Consumer Class Scheme will be submitted to the U.S. District Court of New Jersey for approval.
And while $ 2.2 billion is a whole lot of change, it’s only a fraction of the $ 35.4 billion that Volkswagen has paid out in the form of fines, various deductions, and other fines, according to Reuters. The difference in the US, at least, can be partly explained by the approach the two companies initially took to the investigations.
Volkswagen spent more than a year deceiving investigators, while Daimler collaborated on the get-go, according to The New York Times. There were also more cars involved, with about 600,000 VW diesels vs 250,000 Daimler diesels. Daimler had said earlier this year that it expected to take a financial hit because of the investigation.
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