Swiss Consumer Protection Group Representing 6,000 VW Diesel Car Owners Seeking Damages For Excess Emissions

A Switzerland-based consumer protection group has filed a new lawsuit against Volkswagen on behalf of 6,000 owners of diesel cars manufactured by the company in relation to the “Dieselgate” emissions scandal.

The organization, SKS, isn’t actually just seeking damages from Volkswagen, it should be noted, but also from the Swiss car dealer AMAG, reportedly. Also noteworthy is that the suit was filed in the Zurich commercial court.

“The cars sold as environmentally friendly were overpriced from the beginning. Due to the manipulation of the exhaust system, they then lost even more of their value on the secondary market,” read a statement from SKS (Stiftung fuer Konsumentenschutz).

Reuters provides more: “SKS said it was assuming damages amounted on average to 15% of the initial retail price of the vehicles concerned and that, together with insurance companies supporting the legal action, it wanted to give Swiss-based car owners the possibility to enforce their rights without disproportionate financial risk.

“Volkswagen said it would examine the details of the claim once it had them but said it saw no fundamental case as industry experts had not been able to establish any significant loss of value for VW diesel vehicles on the Swiss market.

“The trust and satisfaction of our customers are extremely important to us. However, we are of the opinion that there are no legal grounds for claims connected with the diesel issue,” read a statement from Volkswagen.

Accompanying that statement was the notation by Volkswagen that around 98% of the 173,000 owners in Switzerland affected by the scandal had seen their cars refitted at no extra cost.

The Reuters coverage continues: “AMAG, which imports the cars into Switzerland, said in a statement on its website it did not understand why SKS filed the claim because prices on the secondary market for VW diesel cars were at least on the same level or even higher than those of competing models.”

The company also stated thus there had never been any intent to “willfully deceive customers” — hence the lack of a case, going on the company’s logic.

In related news, the highest court in Germany recently rejected a motion by Volkswagen to block the imposition of a special auditor meant to further investigate the (possibly illegal) actions of company execs during the outbreak of the Dieselgate scandal.

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