BERLIN (Reuters) - Audi plans to keep hiring and affirmed a jobs guarantee through 2018, even as parent Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) is rocked by a scandal over rigged emissions tests, a spokesman for Audi said on Saturday, confirming a German media report.
"We are sticking with plans for strategic growth and are continuing to hire new employees as planned," newspaper Heilbronner Stimme had earlier quoted Audi personnel chief Thomas Sigi as saying in an interview published on the carmaker's Intranet site.
He said orders and vehicle sales at Audi were currently stable, adding the brand would pay workers "a respectable sum" as bonuses next year, though it was too early to provide exact figures.
Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, is battling a business crisis after admitting last month it installed software in diesel vehicles to deceive U.S. regulators about the true level of their toxic emissions.
Monthly Manager Magazin reported on Saturday that the group plans to record most of the costs of the scandal, which it sees exceeding 30 billion euros (22 billion pounds), at the VW brand, sparing its Audi and Porsche subsidiaries.
