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Volkswagen's 3.0-liter diesel settlement includes fixes, buybacks

Finally! It's not unlike the 2.0-liter settlement, although it's a fair bit smaller.

Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
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Volkswagen has confirmed reports that its 3.0-liter diesel settlement will be pretty similar to the terms of its 2.0-liter diesel settlement.

The automaker has agreed to a series of fixes and buybacks for 80,000 over-polluting 3.0-liter diesel vehicles, Volkswagen said in a statement. Approximately 20,000 older diesels will be bought back or, if possible, fixed. 60,000 newer vehicles only require a fix, although regulators must still sign off on those fixes. The judge overseeing the settlement must still give his final approval, too.

It's believed that this settlement will cost the company about $1 billion. That's a drop in the bucket, though, because VW's total payout for its US diesel malfeasance is somewhere in the neighborhood of $17.5 billion by now.

Volkswagen will also toss another $225 million into an environmental remediation fund, meant to offset the higher emissions of its diesel vehicles. This fund can pay for things like newer, more efficient school buses or promoting zero-emissions vehicles.

California is getting its own special slice of the pie, as well. The state said Volkswagen agreed to add at least three electric vehicles in the state by 2020, including an SUV, and it must maintain annual EV sales of about 5,000 vehicles through 2025. Volkswagen will also pay the state's regulatory body $25 million.

The buyback offer covers 2009-2012 Volkswagen and vehicles with 3.0-liter diesel engines. The remaining vehicles are 2013-2016 models spread across the Volkswagen, Audi and brands. If a fix is not possible, then the newer vehicles must be bought back, as well. That would add billions to the cost of this settlement.

It appears that there will be some sort of financial compensation alongside the buyback and fix schemes, but there are no specific numbers available yet. Either way, this brings us one step closer to finally ditching the word "Dieselgate" for good.