Video: VW Chairman Says Company Is "Fighting For Every Customer"

Volkswagen has agreed on steps to improve oversight of engine-software development to avoid future manipulations after its admission of cheating U.S. diesel-emissions tests caused the biggest scandal in the German carmaker's corporate history. Correspondent Grace Pascoe reports.

Video Transcript:

Trust is top of Volkswagen's checklist.

And regaining it after the embarrassing emissions scandal won't be easy.

Hans Dieter Poetsch is VW's chairman.

"Through it, we have lost trust with our clients, with investors and with our employees but also in politics and among the public. Winning back trust is our top priority and our top challenge."

Europe's biggest carmaker has agreed steps to improve oversight of engine-software development

Hopefully avoiding future manipulations.

Michael Hewson is from CMC Markets.

"Brand is such a big factor in determining whether or not you go and make a big ticket purchase of a motor vehicle. And VW has been caught red-handed basically being dishonest about its emissions tests, and actually downright deceitful. It could take at least 5 or 10 years for the consumer to recover confidence in the VW brand."

Despite the scandal, orders so far this year were up by 3.5 percent.

VW's Chief Executive Matthias Mueller thinks the crisis brought some positives,

Including an opportunity for long-needed structural change.

"Two and a half months after the outbreak of the crisis, we see no reason to move away from the adjusted outlook for 2015 made at the end of October. Overall, the situation is not dramatic, but it is tense. We are fighting for every customer and every car."

Up to 11 million cars worldwide have the faulty software

Which was able to cheat U.S. emissions tests.

And the costs of fixing cars, paying fines and dealing with legal challenges could be in the tens of billions of euros.