Volkswagen agrees to $14.7 billion settlement in emissions scandal

Volkswagen will settle its emissions scandal case for $14.7 billion, the largest payout by an automaker to consumers in U.S. history, in an agreement set to be formally announced Tuesday morning, according to two people familiar with the matter.

More than $10 billion of the settlement will go to fix or buy back 475,000 Volkswagens with two-liter diesel engines that were programmed to turn off emissions measurement data outside of laboratory settings, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced. Those engines spewed 40 times the legal limit of harmful nitrogen oxides.

Another $2.7 billion will go into an Environmental Protection Agency trust fund for environmental remediation, and the German automaker will spend $2 billion more on American clean energy technology.

Nearly 40 state attorneys general are also set to announce resolutions with Volkswagen that could bump the total settlement valuation to more than $15 billion.

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