VW to pay staff bonuses for 2015, Audi workers' payouts fall

Volkswagen will pay employees a bonus for 2015, despite the scandal over defeat devices used to rig emissions tests in the United States, the company's works council head said.

"Extra shifts and overtime were once again the theme in 2015. And employees are standing by the company in light of Dieselgate," Bernd Osterloh said in VW's employee newsletter.

Osterloh said he and Chief Executive Matthias Mueller had agreed staff on in-house contracts, around 100,000 people, should be rewarded with a bonus, but the amount still needed to be determined.

"Staff are carrying out their work at a difficult time," the newsletter quoted Mueller as saying.

VW, which on Wednesday said the US diesel test problems did not initially receive particular management attention, last year paid in-house workers at its factories in western Germany a bonus of 5,900 euros each

VW's luxury unit Audi on Thursday said it would pay staff working at factories in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm a bonus of 5,420 euros (S$8,159) on average, down from 6,540 for the previous year.