Volkswagen reports first quarterly loss in 15 years

Volkswagen has posted its first quarterly loss in at least 15 years and said the €6.7bn set aside to cover the costs of its rigging of diesel emissions tests was likely just a start.

The news came as the carmaker’s new CEO was about to fly out to China with German chancellor Angela Merkel and other business leaders to promote trade in a major export market and try to limit the damage of a scandal that has rocked the auto industry.

Almost six weeks after it admitted using illegal software to cheat US diesel emissions tests, Europe’s biggest carmaker is under pressure to identify those responsible, fix up to 11m affected vehicles and convince regulators, investors and customers that it won’t make the same mistakes again.