Audi has accepted responsibility for fitting V6 TDI and V8 TDI diesel engines with illegal emissions software and has been fined £700 million by a Munich public prosecutor.
Part of the fallout from the 2015 Volkswagen ‘dieselgate’ scandal, Audi’s acceptance of the fine brings to a close investigations by German prosecutors.
The fine follows a similar £875 million payment made by Volkswagen earlier in the summer.
Only £4.3 million of the Audi fine is for regulatory offences: the maximum legally permitted. The other £696.7 million is a penalty for economic benefits it enjoyed through selling cars with ‘defeat devices’.
Affected cars were “advertised, sold to customers, and placed on the market with an impermissible software function in the period from 2004, and continuing to have an effect until 2018”.
Audi AG says it does not intend to appeal the fine, bringing an end to the legal case in its home market. It is not the end of the matter, though, as former CEO Rupert Stadler remains in jail over fraud and false advertising allegations.
The firm adds that because of the heavy fine, Audi Group “will significantly undercut major financial key performance indicators forecasted for the fiscal year 2018”.
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