A group of shareholders of the parent company of Volkswagen, Porsche SE, is demanding compensation of 8 million euros. They believe that they have paid too much for their shares for years because they were not aware of the diesel scandal at Volkswagen.
The claim case started on Wednesday in Stuttgart, Germany.
In 2015 it came to light that Volkswagen had predicted nitrogen emissions to be lower than they were with ‘cheating software’. When the problems became known, the share of Porsche SE lost a lot of value. In Europe, there are 8.5 million ‘cheated diesels’ of the brands VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda and Porsche.
Volkswagen’s parent company has rejected all claims so far. The German company insists it is not a car manufacturer but a holding company. It would therefore not be involved in the development, production or marketing of vehicles. Final compensation for all Porsche SE shareholders can amount to hundreds of millions of euros. Porsche SE holds the majority of the voting rights at Volkswagen.
Since September 2018, a claim case against Volkswagen itself has been pending in another German court. Those shareholders believe that the car manufacturer should have informed them earlier about the scale of the emissions scandal. Volkswagen has paid fines in Germany, the United States and other countries over the diesel scandal in recent years. Owners of the cars also received compensation.
