Volkswagen chief Matthias Mueller hinted in a newspaper interview that the embattled car giant could abandon diesel engine technology in the wake of the massive emissions-cheating scandal it is currently engulfed in.

"Against this background, we have to ask ourselves whether... we want to spend more money on the further development of diesel," Mueller told the business daily Handelsblatt, promising that VW would take a "fundamental" look at the issue. 

Mueller pointed to tougher emissions legislation set to come into force in 2020.

"We have an inkling of what will follow in five or 10 years," he said.

"It's clear even today that treating exhaust gas fumes will become very costly and elaborate," he said. 

At the same time, electric powered transport will become cheaper, Mueller added, while conceding that diesel technology remained very popular in Europe and in Germany. 

VW was plunged into its deepest-ever crisis last September when it was revealed that it had installed emissions-cheating software into 11 million diesel engines worldwide.