Volkswagen faces billions of dollars in potential new penalties after the top US consumer watchdog hit the carmaker with a lawsuit¹ over its emissions² cheating scandal.

大众汽车(Volkswagen)可能面临金额达上百亿美元的新罚款，原因是美国最高消费者权益保护机构针对这家汽车制造商的尾气造假丑闻提起了诉讼。

The Federal Trade Commission is pursuing compensation for consumers that could rise beyond $15bn, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday seeking the repayment³ of “ill-gotten monies”.

美国联邦贸易委员会（Federal Trade Commission，简称FTC）周二提交的一份寻求让大众汽车偿还“不当得利”的诉状显示，该机构正在为消费者们争取最高或超过150亿美元的赔偿。

The FTC alleges⁴ that VW systemically deceived customers over seven years with an advertising⁵ campaign promoting “clean diesel⁶” vehicles that were in reality much dirtier than government rules permitted.

FTC指控称，大众汽车在七年的时间里以推介“清洁柴油”汽车的广告活动系统性地欺骗了消费者，这种汽车造成的污染其实大大高于美国政府规定中许可的水平。

VW has admitted to equipping up to 11m diesel-powered cars around the world with software that tricked regulators by reducing nitrogen oxide⁷ emissions only when pollution tests were under way.

大众汽车已承认，其在世界各地多达1100万辆柴油车上安装了一种软件，这种软件只在车辆接受尾气污染物检测时降低车辆的氮氧化物排放、从而骗过监管机构。

Six months since the scandal broke VW finds itself surrounded by hostile forces itching⁸ to punish it, ranging from the FTC and the US Department of Justice to the French government and German prosecutors⁹.

在丑闻爆发六个月后的今天，大众汽车发现，它已被各种充满敌意、急于惩罚它的势力所包围，这里面既包括美国的FTC和司法部，也包括法国政府及德国检方。

Even before the FTC lawsuit UBS analysts were predicting the scandal would end up costing the carmaker