VW gets more time to strike 3-liter emissions deal

Washington — A federal judge is extending by one day a Monday deadline that called for Volkswagen to reach an agreement with federal regulators to fix or buy back about 80,000 3-liter diesel vehicles that were rigged to cheat U.S. emission standards to give negotiators more time to work out a deal.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer granted Volkswagen until 2 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday to work out a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board during a court hearing in San Francisco on Monday morning.

Breyer has said he is hopeful that a deal can be reached between regulators and the beleaguered German automaker after negotiators made “substantial progress” late last week.

Volkswagen had originally been expected to present a deal to Breyer by Nov. 30. The deadline was moved to Friday and then again to Monday after negotiators initially appeared close to reaching a deal.

Reuters has reported that an agreement is close that calls for Volkswagen to buy back about 20,000 Audi and VW SUVs and provide a software fix for about 60,000 newer models that were marketed under its Porsche, Audi and VW brands. The report from the news agency cited two unnamed sources who are familiar with the talks between VW and federal regulators.

Volkswagen has admitted to programming its diesel cars to trick emissions testers into believing the engines released far less pollution into the air than they actually do, in violation of the federal Clean Air Act. Regulators have said that in normal driving they emitted up to 40 times more smog-causing nitrogen oxide than the legal limit.

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