By William Boston 

BERLIN--European owners of nearly three million tainted Volkswagen AG cars may go empty-handed despite the agreement in the U.S. on a near $15 billion settlement to resolve the German auto maker's emissions-cheating scandal.

Volkswagen, Europe's leading car maker by sales, has agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle legal emissions-cheating claims with regulators and owners of nearly 500,000 diesel-powered vehicles in the U.S.

Under the settlement's terms, detailed in hundreds of pages of settlement documents filed Tuesday in a San Francisco federal court, U.S. motorists can either sell back or terminate leases of affected vehicles, or get them fixed to become compliant with environmental regulations. Volkswagen will repurchase vehicles at their September market value before regulators disclosed the auto maker's emissions-cheating.

All consumers, regardless of their choice, will receive additional compensation of between $5,100 and nearly $10,000 each.

The U.S. settlement has raised concern in Brussels that the much larger number of European customers who bought tainted diesel-powered vehicles from Volkswagen wouldn't receive equal compensation from the German car maker.

"Volkswagen should voluntarily offer compensation for European car owners that is comparable to what is being paid to U.S. consumers," said Elzbieta Bienkowska, European Industry and Internal Market Commissioner.

Volkswagen has repeatedly said that it sees no reason to compensate European customers because of differences in U.S. and European law and environmental standards. Under EU rules, the company has said, Volkswagen's diesel vehicles don't violate emissions standards.

It has also said that the vehicles containing the illegal software can be more easily repaired in Europe. Volkswagen is recalling nearly three million vehicles in Europe to remove the defeat devices and make the cars compliant with the law.

Nevertheless, European officials, consumer groups and plaintiffs' attorneys in say Volkswagen should compensate European victims to regain customers' trust.

"Consumers have been massively misled by Volkswagen and this settlement in the U.S. recognizes the damage suffered by car drivers," said Monique Goyens, general director of the European Consumer Organization, a Brussels-based consumer lobby. "It is inconceivable that consumers in the EU get treated differently."

Volkswagen faces other legal troubles in Europe.

Several lawsuits have been filed in Germany on behalf of investors, including large pension funds such as Calpers, the Norwegian state oil fund, and Nordea, a Swedish investment fund. German courts have yet to rule on allowing class-action suits to go forward, a stricter process than in the U.S.

In the U.S., the total Volkswagen payout includes up to $10.03 billion to cover legal claims from owners of affected vehicles with two-liter diesel engines. Volkswagen will also pay $2.7 billion for an environmental remediation fund, and another $2 billion to be invested in promoting so-called zero-emission vehicle technology, court documents show.

--Mike Spector and Sara Randazzo contributed to this article.

Write to William Boston at william.boston@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 28, 2016 10:28 ET (14:28 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.