Volkswagen should reduce the “huge sums of money” paid to executives and any bonuses should be given in shares, activist investor TCI Fund Management.
In May the investment company demanded an end to boardroom “extravagance” after VW paid its top 12 managers a total of 63 million euros or £54.07 for 2015, even though the company plunged to a record loss after admitting to cheating diesel emissions tests.
Volkswagen Group pledged to fix all cars equipped with illicit engine software in Europe by autumn 2017, the European Commission said on Wednesday after talks with the carmaker to ensure it is doing enough for affected clients.
At a meeting with consumer Commissioner Vera Jourova, VW board member Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz committed to a plan to inform customers by year’s end of the need for a technical fix to bring diesel cars into line with EU caps on toxic nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.
France may seek compensation from automakers whose vehicles far exceed carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions targets in normal driving, said budget minister Christian Eckert.
Addressing lawmakers at the National Assembly, Eckert said government legal services were preparing action to recover “lost tax receipts” from carmakers whose vehicles should have incurred higher green penalties at the time of sale.
Chinese automakers are facing a sales roadblock in western Europe because they don’t have diesel engines that can meet the region’s tough emissions standards.
Euro 6 rules, which took effect for all new vehicles a year ago, limit nitrogen oxides emissions to no more than 80 milligrams per kilometer but diesels are not popular in mainland China and ROI would be poor.