Wellington lawyers Gibson Sheat are enterting the class action fray with an announcement to represent VW owners in New Zealand in respect of the "cheat software" scandal that has enveloped the German car giant.
Class actions have already been commenced overseas and Gibson Sheat's Edward Cox, has said that local owners duped by the cheat chip in the diesel engines should be compensated. There are around 5500 cars affected locally as
Volkswagen work to identify the affected vehicles together with the Transport Agency.
Volkswagen has announced that it plans to recall up to 11 million vehicles worldwide to have the software removed and, in some cases, replace fuel injection devices.
“New Zealand vehicle owners should not be out of pocket due to the misleading and deceptive actions of others, and we believe a group action is the best way for individual vehicle owners in New Zealand to hold Volkswagen to account over its actions,” Mr Cox was reported as saying.
"They haven’t come out and said they will give compensation only that they will fix the software. But that doesn’t address all the issues the owners are going to suffer as a result of this deception."
He adds there are also concerns the “fix” could reduce engine power and fuel efficiency.
“The reputation of the affected cars may now be tainted, due to no fault of the vehicle owners, and this could lead to a reduction in the value of their cars,” he says.
"Already we have support from some owners and how the claim comes together remains to be determined from the response of the importer."
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