Volkswagen Group has been fined one billion Euros for cheating diesel emission tests after accepting responsibility for the “diesel crisis” before public prosecutors in Germany.

The fine - equivalent to £880 million - was imposed by the Braunschweig public prosecutor yesterday (June 13) and is one of the highest ever imposed by German authorities against a company.

VW does not plan to appeal the ruling, which came after prosecutors established that the brand had sold more than 10.7 million cars between mid-2007 and 2015 which were fitted with an emissions test defeat device.

“Following thorough examination, Volkswagen AG accepted the fine and it will not lodge an appeal against it,” Volkswagen Group said in a statement.

“Volkswagen AG, by doing so, admits its responsibility for the diesel crisis and considers this as a further major step toward the latter being overcome.”

Volkswagen’s fine by German authorities follows a US 4.3 billion dollar plea agreement settled in the US, back in January, to resolve criminal and civil penalties associated with its diesel emissions cheating across the Atlantic.

In total, Volkswagen had set aside a sum of 30 billion dollars to cover fixing cars, buying back cars, clean air fines, penalties and compensation in the US, the BBC reported.

Reuters reported that Munich prosecutors had this week widened an emissions cheating probe into Audi to include chief executive Rupert Stadler among the suspects accused of fraud and false advertising.

It said that VW chief executive, Herbert Diess, and the group’s chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch are also still being investigated by Braunschweig prosecutors for suspected market manipulation.

Poetsch, also chief executive of VW’s majority stakeholder Porsche SE (is separately being investigated by prosecutors in Stuttgart over the same suspicions, Reuters reported.