VW will cut investment by €1 billion ($1.1 billion) a year as a result of the growing scandal over cheating on emissions tests.

Volkswagen said efficiency and technology would be the company’s watchwords as it “repositioned itself for the future”.

The automaker added that all new diesel cars would be fitted with the “best environmental technology”.

There will also be greater focus on hybrid and electric cars.

“We are becoming more efficient, we are giving our product range and our core technologies a new focus, and we are creating room for forward-looking technologies by speeding up the efficiency program,” said Chairman of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Dr. Herbert Diess.

The automaker said it would now be fitting the kinds of clean diesel technologies needed to meet stricter US standards across all its cars in both the US and Europe.

VW also revealed that its flagship Phaeton model would in the future be purely electric, capable of driving long distances on a single charge.