Volkswagen : published ad hoc announcement

Volkswagen AG confirms that it is in advanced discussions with the US Department of Justice and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The aim of the discussions is to reach a settlement agreement regarding the settlement of certain criminal investigations and certain civil fines in connection with the Diesel issue in the USA.

Volkswagen AG further confirms market rumors that the company negotiated a concrete draft of a settlement agreement with the aforementioned US authorities which contains criminal and civil fines with a total amount of USD 4.3 Billion as well as measures to further strengthen the Compliance- and Control-Systems including the appointment of an Independent Monitor for the next three years. Further, part of the settlement agreement is a Guilty Plea regarding certain US criminal-law provisions and a Statement of Facts on the basis of which the fines have to be made.

The final conclusion of the settlement agreement is still subject to the approval by the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG and by the competent corporate bodies of further Group Companies involved. The competent corporate bodies will deal with this issue in the very short term, possibly even during today, the 10 January 2017 or tomorrow, the 11 January 2017. A final conclusion of the settlement agreement is further subject to the execution by the competent US authorities and to the approval of the competent US courts.

In case of a settlement agreement, the payment obligations are expected to lead to a financial expense that exceeds the current provisions. The concrete impact regarding the annual result 2016 cannot be defined at present due to its dependency on various further factors.