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Volkswagen CEO says €6.7 billion provisions enough to cover repairs

Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller has expressed optimism about VW's sales outlook this year
Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller has expressed optimism about VW's sales outlook this year

Volkswagen does not expect additional costs from fixing US cars capable of cheating diesel emissions tests, chief executive Matthias Mueller has said. 

"We have prepared €6.7 billion for the repair process of all the cars globally. We suppose that that should be enough," Mueller said in an interview with Reuters TV at the Detroit auto show. 

Mueller had said over the weekend that VW would propose to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a new catalytic converter system that VW says could be fitted to about 430,000 rigged US cars. 

Mueller is due to meet EPA administrator Gina McCarthy in Washington tomorrow.

He plans to make the proposal which he said includes technical solutions, a "theoretical" offer to buy back cars and a time schedule. 

"We are looking forward to the talks on Wednesday with great confidence," he said, citing "great progress" achieved in discussions with the EPA in past weeks.

"We hope that our offer on the technical solutions and timing proposals will be accepted in foreseeable time," he added. 

Christopher Grundler, director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said he did not know if a VW proposed catalytic converter will fix 430,000 diesel vehicles. 

Separately, Mueller expressed optimism about VW's sales outlook this year after Europe's biggest automotive group suffered the first drop in deliveries at its namesake brand as well as group level in more than a decade last year. 

Asked whether he was bracing for another drop in sales, the CEO said: "We have some difficult political situations all over the world, so we will see what will happen. We have a very attractive product portfolio all over the brands, so we are confident we will be successful in 2016."