Audi’s push to clear up dieselgate far from over, CEO Stadler tells shareholders

Audi's efforts to clear up the emissions scandal are far from over, its chief executive told shareholders at the carmaker's annual general meeting, promising no more misconduct as the carmaker pushes a post-dieselgate revamp.

"We will continue until the job is done," Rupert Stadler said on Thursday, pledging to make law and ethics "the ultimate benchmark" for Audi's future actions.

Audi, Volkswagen's main profit contributor, admitted in November 2015 that its 3.0 litre V6 diesel engines were fitted with an auxiliary control device deemed illegal in the United States that allowed vehicles to evade U.S. emissions limits.

VW has agreed to spend up to $25 billion in the United States to address claims from owners, environmental regulators, states and dealers and offered to buy back about 500,000 polluting U.S. vehicles.

The 54-year-old CEO, who has run Audi since 2007, won another five-year term on Wednesday despite criticism for his handling of the emissions cheating scandal and as workers demanding steps to secure employment at core German factories amid a growing push to build more sport-utility vehicles abroad.

Separately, Audi's Chinese sales keep falling significantly after plunging 18% in the January-to-April period amid a dispute with dealers in the luxury brand's largest market, Stadler said.

Audi's worldwide deliveries rose 4% last year to a record 1.87 million autos.

Audi, like parent VW, is raising spending on electric vehicles and self-driving technology with a goal to increase the share of battery-powered cars to about a third of its global sales by 2025.