Volkswagen Group, Inc, (VWGoA) the distributor of Volkswagen and Audi new motor vehicles, parts, and accessories throughout the United States, filed a lawsuit last month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the Illinois Secretary of State, the Illinois Attorney General, and members of the Illinois Motor Vehicle Review Board, challenging the constitutionality of the recent warranty reimbursement amendment to the Illinois Motor Vehicle Franchise Act.

Referring to the Warranty Reimbursement amendment as the “Multiplier Act,” inasmuch as it allegedly “requires motor vehicle manufacturers to compensate dealers for time that the dealers never actually spend performing warranty work”(ie, at 1.5%), VWGoA describes the law as “crony capitalism at work: redistributive legislation that takes hundreds of millions of dollars from some (but not all) motor vehicle manufacturers and, for no public purpose, deposits that money directly into the pockets of politically favored Illinois dealers.” VWGoA claims the law is unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, the Special Legislation Clause of the Illinois Constitution, and the Takings, Due Process, and Equal Protection Clauses of both the US and Illinois Constitutions.

The lawsuit attacks the very foundation and current relevancy of the Illinois Motor Vehicle Franchise Act, which was initially passed in 1979. The complaint states: “Today, the new motor vehicle market looks very different. Competition among manufacturers is widespread and dynamic, fueled by generational changes in consumer preferences, transformative innovations in electric vehicle technology, and the rise of new entrants (such as Tesla) that are not subject to the statutory restraints that confine legacy manufacturers…[yet] the Motor Vehicle Franchise Act persists, providing Illinois dealers-some of the state’s most remunerative businesses-with greater statutory benefits and protections than virtually any other interest group in any industry, while imposing an array of unusual constraints on manufacturers.”

One claim made by VWGoA is that when Governor Pritzker signed the “Multiplier Act,” he announced in a press release that the purpose of the Act was to increase technicians pay, but VWGoA alleges that the law neither ensures higher pay for technicians nor compels or incentivizes dealers to increase employee compensation. However, the requirements of the new law were incorporated into the wage provisions of the current 701 contract. Non-union dealers customarily match the 701 contract’s wage provisions in order to stay competitive in such a tight labor market – especially for techs.

The CATA will be reaching out to the defendants (the Illinois Secretary of State, Illinois Attorney General, and the Illinois Motor Vehicle Review Board) to discuss how the CATA may be of assistance in helping to defend against these meritless allegations.