Dieselgate: Volkswagen’s emissions scandal troubles are far from over

Almost 10 years after the diesel emissions scandal at Volkswagen, you could be forgiven for thinking that the company’s current business crisis is overshadowing the memory of how VW duped hundreds of thousands of customers.

In fact, attempts are still being made in court to clarify responsibility for one of Germany’s biggest industrial scandals.

It remains to be seen whether there will be a final judgement in the fraud trial or a decision in the investor proceedings in 2025. Meanwhile a big question mark hangs over the possible retrial of former VW boss Martin Winterkorn.

In September 2015, investigations by US environmental authorities and scientists revealed that the exhaust emissions of VW’s diesel vehicles had been manipulated in order to make them appear lower and less environmentally damaging.

These vehicles had software that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve emission results. The German car giant went on to admit cheating emissions tests in the US.

The scandal plunged the car manufacturer into its worst-ever crisis, managers in North America were sentenced to prison, a billion-euro ($1.03 billion) fine was imposed in Germany and compensation was paid to for around a quarter of a million VW diesel owners.

Criminal responsibility among VW management for what happened is far from being finally attributed. An initial judgement in Germany by the Munich Regional Court against former Audi boss Rupert Stadler is not legally binding and an appeal is ongoing.

The Braunschweig Regional Court has been trying four former executives for more than three years. According to the Braunschweig public prosecutor’s office, dates for the next hearings have been set until March 2025, but it is still unclear whether a judgement will be possible by then.

The hearing against former VW Group chief executive Martin Winterkorn was separated from these proceedings after the manager suffered health issues and it has been postponed several times.

In September 2024, the separate trial against Winterkorn, who is accused of commercial fraud, market manipulation and giving false testimony before the Economic Criminal Chamber, began after a long wait. The now 77-year-old denied all accusations and the presumption of innocence applies.

After only a few days of hearings, the trial was interrupted and then suspended. Shortly before Christmas, the defence of the former top manager responded to the rescheduling for the beginning of February by claiming the judge in the case was biased. In the 10th year since the diesel scandal came to light, a firm date for the restart of the trial seems more than doubtful.

Besides Winterkorn and the four executives, numerous other defendants are also waiting for a decision on how “dieselgate” will end for them personally. “Five charges have been brought against a total of 45 defendants,” said public prosecutor’s office spokesperson Christian Wolters. For nine of those affected, charges have already been dropped.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the investigations against 47 other suspects were dropped even before charges were brought. “Public interest has been served by the imposition of substantial fines totalling €804,000,” said authority spokesperson Wolters.

According to him, the majority of those affected were lower-level managers in the VW Group. Wolters also said that two managers already convicted in the US do not have to fear any further sanctions in Germany.

One hearing which could still turn out to be very costly for the VW Group is the multi-billion-euro test case brought by investors against VW. In the trial against the Volkswagen Group and the holding company Porsche SE at the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Braunschweig, investors have been claiming damages since 2018 due to share price losses following the dieselgate revelations.

This mammoth trial has bee under way since since 2018. After almost five years of proceedings, the court announced in July 2023 that it wanted to hear from more than 80 witnesses – including the former executives Herbert Diess and Mathias Müller. Dates for these hearings have been set for the first half of 2025.

And so an end to the legal aftermath is not in sight. According to the OLG spokesperson, it cannot be ruled out that further witnesses will have to be heard in addition to those named so far.

This will only become clear in the course of the next few months. A final result in this test case could still have an impact on the ultimate diesel scandal settlement.

The amount in dispute is well over €4 billion ($4.1 billion). A Group spokesperson currently puts the total costs for Volkswagen to date at around €33 billion (33.8 billion).

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