Matthias Mueller

BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen has chosen Herbert Diess as its new chief executive in an overhaul that includes streamlining the company's multiple car brands into just three groups while preparing its truck business for a potential listing.

Audi's emissions scandal flared up again on June 1 after the German government accused the carmaker of cheating emissions tests with its top-end models, the first time Audi has been accused of such wrongdoing in its home country.

German auto giant Volkswagen on Feb. 24 said it raced back into the black in 2016 as car sales hit an all-time high, in the latest sign of its "dieselgate" scandal fading into the rearview mirror.

German prosecutors have widened their probe of Volkswagen's diesel emissions cheating scandal and are now investigating 17 employees, up from six employees previously, prosecutor Klaus Ziehe said on March 8. 

Volkswagen AG's current chairman and chief executive were alerted by the carmaker's former CEO to the use of illicit emissions-control software in the United States two weeks before the carmaker disclosed the scale of its manipulations, Bild am Sonntag reported, without citing the source of the information. 

European consumer organizations ask for Volkswagen to compensate its customers following the emissions scandal revealed last September when the company admitted it had cheated U.S. tests by using a software known as “defeat devices” to mask nitrogen oxide emissions.

In the United States, Volkswagen has promised to offer a $1,000 compensation to its clients.

Volkswagen said Dec. 10 the roots of the global pollution-cheating scandal it is currently engulfed in date back to 2005, and while the current situation was difficult, it would not break the company.

Volkswagen posted its first quarterly loss in at least 15 years on Oct. 28 and said the 6.7 billion euros ($7.4 billion) set aside to cover the costs of its rigging of diesel emissions tests was likely just a start.

The German authorities tightened the screws on Volkswagen on Oct. 15, saying they would order it to recall 2.4 million vehicles across the country that are fitted with pollution-cheating software.

As the embattled auto giant continues to struggle to resolve its deepest-ever crisis, the authorities appear to be losing patience.

Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said in an interview with a German newspaper that the company would launch a recall for cars affected by its diesel emissions crisis in January and complete the fix by the end of next year.