VW recall: Volkswagen sets aside £4.9 billion after emissions cheating scandal

Volkswagen has set aside some €6.5 billion (£4.9 billion) to cover the cost of the emissions test cheating scandal currently engulfing the company.

In a statement Volkswagen said it "does not tolerate any kind of violation of laws whatsoever" and is working "at full speed" to understand what led to the use of devices that masked the emissions levels of its cars during tests by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

During normal driving, the affected VW and Audi cars emit 10 times to 40 times the legal limit of harmful nitrogen emissions, the EPA found.

The US boss of Volkswagen Michael Horn was earlier forced to admit that the company had “totally screwed up” and been "dishonest" in using the so-called "cheat switches".

Eleven million cars around the world have been fitted with the switch.

Europe and South Korea are now looking at their own investigations into emissions tests.