Volkswagen and Porsche Wednesday reached an $80 million settlement with plaintiffs in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The car companies faced a class action lawsuit for alleged manipulation of fuel economy and fuel emission tests for nearly 500,000 Porsche class vehicles.

This class action sought to reimburse “consumers who purchased or leased certain model year 2005-2020 gasoline-powered Porsche vehicles[.]” Class members will be divided further into three categories for settlement payment. The class action lawsuit alleged that Porsche participated in two historical practices that “improperly skewed” the vehicles’ emissions and fuel test results. The first tactic alleged was “physically altering test vehicles that impacted CO2 emissions and fuel economy results[.]” The second tactic alleged “impacted the emissions test results of certain vehicles equipped with a high-performance ‘Sport+’ operating mode.”

Class members are eligible to receive “$250-$1,109 per Class Vehicle, correlating to their vehicle’s revised fuel economy ratings and the number of months they possessed the vehicle.” The settlement also requests $24 million in attorneys’ fees and $1.1 million for “reimbursement of reasonable litigation expenses[.]”

A Porsche spokesperson stated, “[w]e are committed to providing our customers with transparent fuel economy and emissions data, and the agreement ensures that customers are fairly reimbursed for any ratings changes and repairs.”