Matthias Mueller
Chief executive officer Matthias Mueller recently came back from a visit to Qatar Getty

Volkswagen executives are to be grilled by reporters today (10 December) in a press conference on the CO2 emissions scandal. The conference was called to inform the public on the recall plans and the size of the crisis at the German car manufacturer.

The firm has said it is keen to update people "on the current status of the clarification process concerning the diesel issue and on the realignment of the group". The conference follows news that the number of cars affected by the fraudulent CO2 emission software is much smaller than previously estimated.

Volkswagen had already put aside €2bn (£1.4bn, $2.1bn) in earnings to deal with the sizeable scandal, but market expectation is that this will be less now that only some 36,000 cars produced a year were affected.

The amount put aside to cover the costs caused the company's losses in the third quarter to be more severe than expected. The German carmaker reported a €3.48bn loss on 28 October 2015

The unexpected cost of the manufacturer's emission scandal revealed in September caused the firm to plunge into the red, from a €3.23bn profit in the equivalent quarter in 2014.

Chief executive officer Matthias Mueller, who came back from Qatar to visit one of the firm's biggest shareholders, is expected to join other executives at the press conference. Reporters are likely to ask further questions about the management of the firm and how the scandal could happen, but also about moving forward.

Volkswagen has already set out the dates of its recall plan in 2016 but will further inform the public about the scandal and its effects. The event will kick off at 10am GMT (11am CET) and the manufacturer is hosting a live webcast on its own website, which can be viewed using this link.