San Francisco, Dhu-AlQa'dah 22, 1437, August 25, 2016, SPA -- The judge hearing the case against Volkswagen over its emissions scandal on Thursday increased pressure on the company to come up with a solution to cover tens of thousands of large cars equipped with the cheating software, according to dpa. US District Judge Charles Breyer said the clock is ticking in the case involving the 85,000 Volkswagen diesel cars sold in the United States with 3-litre engines. During a hearing in his San Francisco courtroom, he made clear the cars don't meet US specifications and are therefore illegally operating on US streets. He set November 3 as the date for another hearing and demanded the parties work on possibilities for a settlement as they continue developing a recall plan. If there is no progress, the judge said opening a case against VW over the 3-litre engine cars would have to be considered. VW attorney Robert Giuffra said the company still believes it can repair the cars. The case is more difficult than the one involving the smaller 2-litre engines, but the company is working hard with US authorities on finding a solution, he said. A representative of the US Justice Department said the matter is very complex, which makes finding a binding timetable all the more difficult. Volkswagen also announced in court Thursday that it has reached an agreement with auto dealerships for their losses from the emissions cheating scheme. Volkswagen has agreed to make cash payments and provide additional benefits to the dealers to resolve their claims. The dollar value of the agreement wasn't disclosed. The dealers said the scandal resulted in lost business and damaged reputation. "These 652 mostly small business owners were blindsided by the diesel emissions scandal and have seen the value of their businesses plummet," said Steve Berman, an attorney for the dealers. "Our investigation has uncovered no evidence that VW dealers had any idea that VW was selling them cars that had defeat devices installed." Volkswagen and the dealers' attorneys still have to work out final details of the proposed settlement. They are expected to be finished at the end of September. A final deal requires the approval of the court. The dealers sued VW alleging fraud and false advertising. Because the company has suspended sales of its diesel models in the US, the dealers have inventory they can't sell. Breyer last month gave preliminary approval to the carmaker's multibillion-dollar settlement covering 480,000 Volkswagens with 2-litre engines. Under the 14.7-billion-dollar deal the German carmaker would spend up to 10 billion dollars buying back or repairing the 2-litre diesel cars from Volkswagen and Audi equipped with software that manipulated vehicle emissions during official testing. VW has also agreed to compensate owners of those cars between 5,100 and 10,000 dollars each. In addition, the carmaker will spend 2.7 billion dollars to support environmental projects, with an additional 2 billion dollars earmarked for research on reducing emissions. --SPA 22:18 LOCAL TIME 19:18 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w