German carmaker Volkswagen said Friday that it is to take a 16.2 billion-euro ($18.2 billion) hit in its 2015 accounts related to a diesel-emissions scandal identified in the U.S. last year.
The announcement came ahead of a news conference at its Wolfsburg headquarters that follows the outlines of a deal with U.S. environmental authorities.
Under the terms of the proposed deal, Volkswagen would offer to buy back almost 500,000 cars equipped with software that let the cars to cheat on emissions tests.
The company had delayed its earnings announcement until it could get a better estimate of the costs involved. Analysts say the total costs in fines, legal judgments and lost sales will be significantly higher.
Volkswagen also said it will not be able to release results of an internal probe of its emissions scandal this month as expected. The company now says the probe conducted by U.S. law firm Jones Day could be completed by year end.
The company said early release of partial results would interfere with settlement negotiations in the U.S. and could interfere with cooperation with U.S. law enforcement.
However, it said will post an after-tax loss of 1.36 billion euros for 2015 and a net loss of 5.5 billion euros.
