By Cecilia Butini

Volkswagen AG said Thursday that it would seek to overturn an Italian court's decision that prompted it to refund customers who purchased cars involved in the emissions scandal known as dieselgate.

Italian consumer group Altroconsumo initiated a class action against the German auto maker involving more than 63,000 customers, which a court in Venice has now upheld, ordering the company to pay 3,300 euros ($3,891) plus interest to each customer, totaling EUR200 million.

According to Altroconsumo, Volkswagen's use of illegal software meant that customers were tricked into buying cars which had higher emissions than they thought. The organization said Volkswagen will also need to pay legal fees and refund all the communication expenses connected to the class action.

Volkswagen said that Altroconsumo's class action is inadmissible and that its allegations are without merit.

"Class members have not suffered any economic loss because of the NOx issue since all vehicles are technically safe and roadworthy, and no loss in their trade value resulted in the Italian market because of the NOx issue," the company said referring to nitrogen oxide, a polluting agent contained in exhaust gases of diesel engines.

--Markus Klausen contributed to this article.

Write to Cecilia Butini at cecilia.butini@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 08, 2021 08:32 ET (12:32 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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