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Another German carmaker is in trouble after Volkswagen Group spent huge sums of money in the United States to deal with the "emission gate" lawsuit. Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, said recently that it had reached a nearly $3 billion (20.85 billion yuan) settlement with the United States over "cheating in diesel emissions" to resolve civil investigations by US regulators and lawsuits brought by car owners.

It is understood that the lawsuits stem from a long-term investigation into Daimler's cheating software for diesel emissions tests. As early as 2018, US investigators found that Mercedes-Benz diesel cars may have used illegal software to tamper with data in emission tests to help vehicles pass emission tests.

Daimler said in a statement that it had reached agreements with the Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Commission, the California Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency. At the same time, the settlement covers civil lawsuits filed by the owners of about 250000 diesel cars and vans in the United States.

Daimler also said it would cost $1.5 billion to settle with US authorities and $700m to resolve class-action lawsuits brought by consumers. In addition, Daimler will have to spend some additional money to meet the requirements of the settlement agreement, with the total cost of the settlement approaching $3 billion (about 20.85 billion yuan), which will be apportioned over the next three years, most of which will be completed within the next 12 months.

Daimler said the settlement is in Daimler's best interest and is a key step in resolving various diesel vehicle lawsuits, and the company is well prepared for the settlement costs. However, the company also pointed out that these settlements are not final, because the relevant U. S. departments and courts are still required to approve.

As a world-renowned luxury car manufacturer, Daimler has fallen into a sharp decline in performance or losses, and the huge compensation fees will further aggravate Daimler's financial difficulties.

In 2019, Daimler's net profit fell to 2.7 billion euros, a year-on-year drop of 64.5%. In 2020, due to the impact of the global epidemic, Daimler's performance deteriorated. Daimler's profit before interest and tax in the first quarter was only 617 million euros, down 78% from the same period last year. There was a loss of 1.91 billion euros in the second quarter.

To this end, Daimler launched a substantial cost-cutting program. According to foreign media reports, Daimler wants to expand the scale of layoffs, in order to further reduce costs, Daimler expects the number of layoffs will exceed the previous plan, will reach 15000. Daimler had planned to cut more than 10000 jobs worldwide by the end of 2022, reducing labor costs by 1.4 billion euros.

The US investigation into "emission gates" began in 2015, when Volkswagen Group diesel vehicles were detected for software cheating, and Volkswagen admitted that it installed emission cheating software in some diesel models. It also agreed to provide repurchase or repair services to the owners of more than 550000 cars it sells in the United States. In the United States, Volkswagen has paid a cumulative $25 billion in criminal fines, civil fines and other legal settlements.

German carmakers have also paid a heavy price for cheating.

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