Without regulatory approval, the German car giant could be forced to buy back all of the cars, costing it about $4bn. And the deal, another in its long-running emissions scandal, still needs approval from the courts.
Car components company Robert Bosch, a VW supplier, has also agreed to pay $327.5m to US owners of affected cars. The proposed settlements for the three-litre cars are the last major US hurdle for VW over its emissions scandal.
VW previously agreed to spend up to $10bn to compensate the owners of about 482,000 two-litre vehicles after it admitted it had installed secret software to disguise emissions.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Wednesday that US customers who bought the three-litre diesel cars would be fully compensated “through a combination of repairs, additional monetary compensation, and buybacks for certain models”.
Owners of 2009 to 2012 models could get between $26,000 to $58,000 for a buyback, depending on the model, mileage, and trim of the car, the FTC said.
For owners and people leasing 2013 to 2016 models, Volkswagen is expected to get regulatory approval for a fix that makes the cars compliant with US environmental regulations, the FTC added.
However, if VW fails to get Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board approval for the modification within a certain time frame, it must offer to buy back those vehicles, upping the amount it has to pay to about $4bn.
