Volkswagen Cutting Spending Worldwide

1:20 p.m.

Volkswagen CEO Michael Mueller says the company’s board has decided to reduce capital expenditures by 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in 2016 as it deals with the fallout of its emissions-rigging scandal.

Mueller said Friday after a meeting of the board at company headquarters in Wolfsburg, German, that the cuts would bring capital expenditure down to 12 billion euros next year.

Among other things, the company said it would postpone a new design center in Wolfsburg and the introduction of an all-electric Phaeton sedan.

He says "we’re driving cautiously over the coming months, but we know where we want to go and we want to ensure that the Volkswagen company comes out of the current situation strengthened."

Phateon designed to rival Tesla vehicles
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10:10 a.m.

Volkswagen’s board of directors is meeting at company headquarters in Wolfsburg to discuss the automaker’s future financial strategy in the wake of revelations it rigged vehicles to cheat emissions tests.

The dpa news agency reported that the 20-member board began meeting Friday morning behind closed doors to talk about how to best balance savings and investment.

Volkswagen in September admitted it rigged emissions tests for four-cylinder diesel engines on 11 million cars worldwide, including almost 500,000 in the U.S.

It has already set aside 6.7 billion euros ($7.4 billion) to cover the costs of recalling those vehicles but experts say the total cost including fines could be much more.

VW also has until day’s end to submit a draft plan to fix four-cylinder diesels to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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