After burning both their customers and the environment in the carbon emissions scandal, a federal court has agreed that $15 billion was the right number to reimburse all of the owners that qualified for the settlement. In September, the customers were given the choice to either have Volkswagen buy the car back or have them fix the computer that was cheating the tests that determined how much emissions were being put into the environment during the tests. According to the Associated Press, that choice is expected to go through in the next month or so. All of the money won’t go back to the customers as $2.7 billion will go towards environmental causes and another $2 billion to support zero-emission cars.
Now what’s interesting about VW is that even after this huge settlement and the decrease in their cars being purchased in the United States and South America, they are still doing fine from a revenue standpoint. Why is that, you ask?
In a NPR article, Karl Brauer of Kelly Blue Book noted that the success of the market in China is pushing against any losses in the United States and around the world could actually gain them revenue. Brauer also noted that VW could still end up being the #1 selling car manufacturer in the world. However, in 2015, it should be noted that sales dropped 37% in Russia and 38% in Brazil. Even though there was a decrease at first in China, they still saw a 5.2% increase for the year. Volkswagen rightfully was penalized harshly for the scandal, but it looks as if they will be just fine in the long run.