Brussels piles pressure on VW over compensation

Brussels is piling pressure on Volkswagen to compensate millions of cars owners in Europe affected by the emissions scandal, warning that such a gesture is needed before the German company can move on from reputational damage.

Elzbieta Bienkowska, the European commissioner responsible for motor industry regulation, said that she would relentlessly push VW on the issue, even though the company has ruled out any EU equivalent of the $1,000 in vouchers it gave to US customers whose cars were fitted with illegal software to cheat during official emissions tests.

"The European Commission will never step back on this because it's important," she said. "You cannot openly say, although the cheat was the same on both sides of the Atlantic, you are treating European consumers differently." VW should offer a "comparable" package to European car owners .

– (Financial Times Service)