News Digest

VW to fix 11m cars at a cost of billions as Bernie says it’s a lot of fuss over not much

Volkswagen says it will refit up to 11 million vehicles in an attempt to move on from the diesel emissions tests scandal. New Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said the German manufacturer will ask customers with some diesel models to come in “in the next few days” for modifications. Those that contained illegal software will have to be refitted, the company announced - a move which some analysts have said could cost more than $6.5 billion. VW’s former boss Martin Winterkorn was forced to quit last week over the scandal which has seen the car giant admit fitting emissions-cheating software to millions of vehicles. Audi has now also said the same software is in 2.1m of its cars.

When I think about this, and all the trucks that are charging around America - and buses, and generators all running on diesel - and there doesn’t seem to be any control over that.

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone

Meanwhile, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has described the Volkswagen emissions scandal as “an awful lot of fuss”. Speaking to Sky Sports News, Mr Ecclestone said it was “strange” that the company had been “picked on” for using illegal software to deceive emissions tests. “I think we’re making an awful lot of fuss about this,” he said. “It’s strange that they’ve sort of picked on somebody that’s using a diesel engine in cars,” said Ecclestone.

We are facing a long trudge and a lot of hard work. We will only be able to make progress in steps and there will be setbacks.

New VW boss Mattias Mueller