Almost 300 institutional investors in Volkswagen have filed a multi-billion euro suit against the automaker for what they see as breaches of its capital markets duty in the emissions scandal, said the law firm representing them.
The lawsuit, for damages of 3.27 billion euros ($3.61 billion), was filed at a regional court in Brunswick in VW’s home state of Lower Saxony on Monday and is being brought by 278 investors from all over the world, including German insurers and U.S. pension fund Calpers.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen has received a setback in its recall programme in Germany.
Volkswagen’s modification of about 2.5 million diesel cars in Germany is being delayed by at least six weeks, the daily newspaper Bild reported.
The automaker has not yet received approval from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) for proposed technical fixes for the Passat midsize model, the newspaper said today, citing a KBA spokesman.
The KBA was still examining the technical solutions submitted by VW and it’s unclear whether the engine will comply with Euro 5 emission standards after the refitting.
The knock-on affect has been felt by Volkswagen Financial Services as well.
Financial Services AG said on Tuesday it took an extraordinary writedown of 353 million euros ($391 million) to cover a potential decline in the residual value of cars in the wake of the diesel emissions cheating scandal.
In the US there has been an unsubstantiated claim that attempts were made to destroy incriminating evidence against Volkswagen covering up the emissions scandal.
