Volkswagen may have to buy back some 115,000 cars in the U.S. as it attempts to placate the federal government over its diesel-emissions scandal.
The German newspaper Süddeutschen Zeitung, first translated by Reuters, cited unknown sources saying VW would buy back one-fifth of the roughly 580,000 cars affected, which include Audi and Porsche models. Presumably, these would be older models that cannot be brought into compliance simply with reprogrammed engine software. VW has not officially announced any plans to retrofit U.S. cars with new exhaust hardware and engine software as it has in Europe.

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There has been no U.S. recall since VW was outed in September for installing cheat software, although the company is negotiating privately with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice, which filed a formal suit against VW earlier this week. Technically, VW also could be facing $48 billion in fines, but given how other companies have been treated in similar situations, that amount is likely to be drastically reduced.

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