Volkswagen is capping its capital expenditure to €12 billion (£8.4bn) next year, down from €13bn (£9.1bn) as it looks to prioritise its costs in the wake of its emissions scandal.

Matthias Müller, Volkswagen chairman, said: “We are operating in uncertain and volatile times and are responding to this.

“We will strictly prioritize all planned investments and expenditures. As announced, anything that is not absolutely necessary will be cancelled or postponed.”

However, Muller said VW would not make the mistake of “economising on our future” and the company will continue increasing spending on the development of electric vehicles for Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche.

He said most of the planned spend had been earmarked for new products including the next-generation Golf, the Audi Q5, the new Crafter factory in Poland, as well as upfront expenditures for its future electric vehicle plans.

VW has confirmed its new design centre in Wolfsburg has been put on hold to save €100 million, a new paint facility in Mexico is likely to be put on hold and a EV successor to the Phaeton has also been delayed.

Muller said:  “We will review and potentially cancel further expenditures or spread them out to a greater extent in the next few weeks, but without putting our future viability at risk.

“Together with the Works Council representatives we will make every effort to keep our core workforce on board.”