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Audi Agrees to Pay 800 Million EUR Fine in Dieselgate Scandal

The end of the year numbers will not look as great as expected for the Volkswagen gropu after German carmaker Audi has been slapped an 800 million EUR ($926 million) fine by the Munich public prosecutor for their proven involvement in cheating emissions tests.
Audi fined by German authorities in Dieselgate scandal 1 photo
Photo: Stefan Baldauf / Guido ten Brink
The fine was announced on Tuesday by the carmaker, which also said it has no plans to contest it and by that by admitting to pay it also “admits responsibility.”

The fine is comprised of 5 million EUR for “negligent regulatory offenses” (45.7 million) and 795 million EUR for “disgorgement of economic benefits” ($920 million).

The public investigation into Audi’s practices showed “monitoring duties had been breached in the emissions service / power engine approval organizational unit,” which became “concurrent causes of certain V6 and V8 diesel aggregates developed by Audi not meeting regulatory requirements.”

Audi states that cars equipped with certain V6 and V8 diesel engines and sold all around the world were sent to customers with an “impermissible software function.” Otherwise known as a defeat device, the software was used between 2004 and 2018.

This is the second largest fine imposed by German authorities on the companies in the Volkswagen group after the 1 billion EUR fine handed to Volkswagen earlier this year.

Coupling these two enormous fines with the fact that sales in the past month have dipped on account of the WLTP coming into effect - and will likely continue to drop in the coming months - the auto group is likely to post significantly diminished profits at the end of the year.

Separately from the fine, authorities have arrested the now former Audi CEO Rupert Stadler in June for his involvement in covering up what he allegedly knew about the practices uncovered in the Dieselgate scandal.

Despite today’s settlement, the investigation into what Stadler did or failed to do will continue. As a side note, Volkswagen’s shares seem unaffected by the announcement, rising over 2 percent earlier today.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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