Automotive News on Monday quoted Diess as saying that VW could build 50 million electric vehicles globally across its brands, beginning in 2020, and had battery sourcing agreements for them.

A spokesman on Friday said that the figure, which referred to a theoretical long-term goal for the MEB electric car manufacturing platform, was overstated.

"Diess meant to say 15 million, not 50 million cars," the spokesman said.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Adrian Croft)