‘Really outraged’: Volkswagen faces record $75 million fine over ‘dieselgate’ case

A judge presiding over Volkswagen’s landmark dieselgate case has slammed the ACCC for going soft on one of the world’s largest companies.

‘Really outraged’. A judge is less than impressed over VW’s $75 million dieselgate fine. Picture: AFP

A judge presiding over Volkswagen’s landmark dieselgate case has slammed the ACCC for going soft on one of the world’s largest companies, despite both parties agreeing to a record $75 million fine.

Justice Lindsay Foster told Federal Court he was “really outraged” by a compromise reached by the ACCC and Volkswagen. He said the wider public would be “very upset” if they knew about concessions made by “the people’s champion”.

Characterising a joint agreement by the ACCC and Volkswagen as “a bunch of weasel words”, Justice Foster noted Volkswagen took responsibility for the issue in the US but “for some reason it won’t do it here”.

‘Enormous breach’. Volkswagen was fined a maximum amount over diselgate, but the judge was less than impressed by the compromise between VW and the ACCC. Picture: AFP

MORE NEWS

Volkswagen to pay millions in compensation

Margot and Nicole’s black carpet PDA

The carmaker and corporate watchdog came to court with a proposed settlement including an Australian record $75 million fine.

The previous maximum penalty for an automotive company in Australia was a $10 million fine levelled at Ford in 2018 for dodgy dual-cutch transmissions.

Justice Foster said he was considering “imposing a higher penalty”.

Jeremy Kirk SC, representing the ACCC, told the court Volkswagen’s actions represented an “enormous breach” and “misleading conduct of an unprecedented nature”.

The ACCC’s barrister said “the parties have agreed something after three years of very hard fought litigation”.

Mr Kirk said Volkswagen Australia made “clear admissions of significant wrongdoing” and that “it’s taken a lot of fighting to get there”.

ACCC chair Rod Sims. Picture: Kym Smith

But Justice Foster argued the ACCC abandoned “vast amounts of its case” to reach a deal with Volkswagen.

He said there was “public interest” in the case, and that the ACCC should not agree to “whatever the Germans want”.

“I do have under consideration imposing a higher penalty.”

“In this particular case the public interest includes, in my view, the policing of behaviours which have a tendency to damage the environment and the citizens that live and breathe in that environment,” he said.

The court heard evidence of penalties handed to Volkswagen in Europe and the US, including a landmark penalty of 1 billion euros (about $1.63B) in Germany in 2018.

An Australian lawyer familiar with the matter said local hearings could be used as evidence in larger cases currently underway in Germany and the UK, which steer VW’s local approach.

The BBC reported on September 30 that VW rejected a German judge’s request for VW to settle a case involving 450,000 owners of diesel vehicles, quoting representatives of the carmaker as saying “there is no damage and therefore no cause for complaint”.

The agreement comes one month after Volkswagen and Audi agreed to settle with customers affected by the issue.

A statement issued by Volkswagen said at the time that the settlement was made “on a no-admissions basis”.

The carmakers agreed to spend between $87 million and $127 million compensating customers who complained about diminished resale value following the manufacturers’s diesel emissions cheating scandal, along with fuel consumption that did not match advertised figures.

The case continues.