Investors sue Volkswagen for €9.2bn in German court

Investors seek €9.2 billion in damages, claiming the company should have revealed it was falsifying data sooner.

Shares in the company crashed after a disclosure in 2015 that its diesel technology emitted illegal levels of pollution.

Andreas Tilp, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the court: “VW should have told the market that they cheated.

“We believe that VW should have told the market no later than June 2008 that they could not make the technology that they needed in the United States,” the Braunschweig higher regional court heard.

There are 1,670 claims of compensation against VW for the 40 per cent drop in share price prompted by the scandal, which has cost the car maker €27.4bn in fines.

The Deka investment fund’s action is being used as the template for another 1,600 lawsuits.

Fifty lawyers are involved in the case, for which interest is so great that it is being heard in a conference centre rather than in court.

VW said the “lawsuit is solely and exclusively about whether Volkswagen complied with its disclosure obligations toward shareholders and the capital markets”.