In an announcement of the VW Group’s results for 2015, new VW chief executive, Matthias Müller admitted that the firm is behind schedule with enacting fixes to cars affected by the emissions scandal. However, he remains optimistic that the company will hit its target of having offered all customers “a solution that doesn’t affect performance in any way” by the end of this year.

No work has begun on VW passenger cars to date, with the proposed fix for the VW Passat awaiting approval from the KBA, Germany’s motoring body. “There has been an unexpected delay in the further rollout of the plan,” said Müller. “While we are making progress with Audi and Seat, we are still working at full speed to develop a final solution for the Volkswagen Passat.

“Nevertheless, the fact remains that we will continue to make every effort to execute the recall campaign as quickly, professionally and satisfactorily as possible for the benefit of our customers. This will remain our most important task until the very last vehicle has been put in order.”

He added that the group’s sales ambitions would take a back seat until it had resolved the fall-out from the emissions scandal: “The drive to break records set in past years has been interrupted. To be quite clear: that doesn't disturb me in the least. We are pursuing a different agenda this year – and are adjusting our priorities anyway.

VW’s US emissions deal

Muller also spoke about the ‘deal in principle’ VW has struck with US legislators to deal with vehicles affected by the emissions scandal. Customers in the US can choose to have their car bought back by VW or opt for a technical fix.

Volkswagen has offered to buy back diesel cars affected by the emissions scandal in the US, as well as offer owners compensation of $5,000 (around Rs 3.3 lakh) each, as part of an estimated £2 billion (around Rs 19,000 crore) deal thrashed out with US regulators. The offer to buy back cars at market value will apply to all 5,00,000 2.0-litre diesel-engined VWs caught up in the scandal.

On the US deal, Müller said: "The agreement in principle represents a major step forward in resolving the diesel issue and the associated legal disputes as well as in our efforts to provide the affected customers with technical solutions.

Müller said the investigation into the emissions scandal that VW itself has commissioned from law firm, Jones Day is “already far advanced” and is likely to conclude in the fourth quarter of this year.