Volkswagen’s invoice for damages seems to keep growing… After the US, where the carmaker will pay consumers $ 24 billion in total, the French authorities could now fine the German carmaker up to € 19.73 billion (10% of its average turnover).
In October 2015, the French authorities (The Central Office against Attacks on the Environment and Public Health - Oclaesp - and The General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control- DGCCRF) opened a judicial investigation with regard to the allegations of employing software designed to camouflage emissions that exceed legal limits.
In a report from the DGCCRF, the investigators underline the fact that the fine will be fixed in proportion to the benefit derived from the fraud. The amount of the benefit would reach € 22.78 billion which corresponds to the sales performance of the 946.087 cars sold in France. The DGCCRF also found that this software allowed VW to save 1.52 billion per year between 2012 and 2014 thanks to cheating devices. VW has not been charged yet.
Read Le Monde article here ( in French)