VW in $14.7bn emissions scandal deal

The German car giant has agreed to pay $10bn to buy back or fix the rigged diesel cars, as well as offer drivers up to $10,000 compensation.

Last year, US regulators discovered that VW cars were fitted with software that could distort emissions tests.

The German giant subsequently said 11 million cars worldwide were affected.

As part of the deal, VW will also pay $2.7bn into an environmental fund operated by the Environmental Protection Agency, and invest $2bn over the next decade into zero emission technology.

In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that many VW cars being sold in America had a "defeat device" - or software - in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results.

The German car giant has since admitted cheating emissions tests in the US.

Some models could have been pumping out up to 40 times the legal limit of the pollutant, nitrogen oxide, regulators disclosed.

The provision VW made for the scandal pushed the car maker into an annual pre-tax loss of €1.3bn, compared with a profit of €14.7bn the previous year