Volkswagen faces the first mega-trial of customers in Germany

The first major consumer lawsuit in Germany opened on Monday against Volkswagen, marking the largest judicial component of the so-called "dieselgate", a scandal with drawers that has haunted the German automotive industry for four years.

More than 450,000 people have signed up for this bundle – an unprecedented procedure in Germany created in response to the diesel scandal.

The first hearing of the trial, which is expected to last several years, began shortly after 0800 GMT at the Regional Court of Brunswick, relocated for the occasion to the convention center. A second hearing is scheduled for November 18.

The VZBV Consumer Association acts as the sole applicant and accuses the car group of deliberately harming its customers by unknowingly installing software that makes the vehicle look less polluting than it actually is.

"I would like Volkswagen to refund the purchase price," says Andreas Sarcletti, a customer from Hanover. Uwe Reinecke, who bought a rigged car in 2011, believes that the group must "clearly recognize" its lies.

Specifically, the three judges will have to decide 56 points, but the main question should be to determine if Volkswagen has "caused harm" to buyers of cars VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda concerned.

"Several regional courts have ruled against Volkswagen" by granting compensation, recalled Judge Michael Neef, referring to more than 60,000 individual applications that have occupied for several years the German justice.

– 30 billion euros –

This does not automatically mean that Brunswick will align, but rather that the issue of harm will be "one of the central and difficult issues," he added.

"We are confident about our chances of success, because Volkswagen defrauded," ensures before the hearing Ralph Sauer, lawyer of the VZBV, to AFP.

But Volkswagen believes that "there is no damage and therefore no basis for this request". "Even today, hundreds of thousands of vehicles are used" on the roads, insists Martina de Lind van Wijngaarden, council of the company.

Even if it proved unfavorable to Volkswagen, the judgment will not lead directly to a refund. Each registered consumer will then have to assert his rights individually.

The review of this collective motion is expected to last at least until 2023 due to a possible appeal to the Federal Court, according to Volkswagen. Individual procedures may take more than one year thereafter.

To shorten the procedure, Mr Neef mentioned the possibility of an amicable agreement, recognizing however that such negotiations "will not be easy". Part of the files concerns customers residing abroad, having bought cars after the revelation of the case or who are not equipped with faked engines.

The VZBV is "open" to such an agreement, but Volkswagen believes that it is for the moment "unimaginable" because of the heterogeneity of the situations.

– Electric turn –

The scandal dates back to 2015, when Volkswagen confessed to having equipped 11 million vehicles with faking software. It has since cost the group more than 30 billion euros in legal fees, fines and compensation, disbursed for the most part in the United States.

For now, the manufacturer has paid in Germany only three fines totaling 2.3 billion euros, but remains under threat of a cascade of civil and criminal proceedings.

Thus, in a lawsuit filed a year ago, investors claim compensation for the dramatic fall in the stock market price after the breakdown of the dieselgate.

Current boss Herbert Diess and Hans Dieter POtsch chairman of the Supervisory Board have been referred to the judges for manipulating share prices and former boss Martin Winterkorn for "fraud".

Beyond the judicial front, the scandal has accelerated the decline of diesel and diesel cars may be banned from several German cities because of their level of pollution nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Volkswagen is trying to turn the page by investing 30 billion euros on its new range to "regain the esteem of the company" according to Ralf Brandstatter, responsible for the VW brand.