Volkswagen is facing a second major British lawsuit over claims it fitted emissions-cheating devices to hundreds of thousands of diesel cars sold in the UK.
The German car giant is alleged to have sold more than 1m of the cars, which used software designed to fool regulators during tests.
It is already being sued over the ‘dieselgate’ allegations by some 91,000 British motorists, in a group action filed at the High Court, with the trial set to begin in 2023. But now the company is set to be hit with a second group action that lawyers say could reach a similar size.
Claim: Volkswagen is already being sued over the ‘dieselgate’ allegations by some 91,000 British motorists
The latest lawsuit is being brought by Keller Lenkner and Milberg London on behalf of 35,000 motorists – but the law firms say up to 85,000 drivers could be involved once they have finished processing paperwork.
They allege that VW ‘designed and installed defeat devices’ in a string of diesel vehicles sold between 2008 and 2015, including popular models such as the Golf, Audi A3 and the Skoda Superb.
The devices – which were computer software – meant that VW’s cars knew when they were being tested and were able to artificially reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions during the tests.
This led to them being wrongly certified under pollution standards – even though they emit many times the legal limit of nitrogen dioxide.
A spokesman for VW said: ‘We do not believe that claimants suffered any loss, nor that they have a valid claim.
‘Volkswagen will defend these claims robustly.’
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