Volkswagen, the German carmaker engulfed in a massive pollution-cheating scandal, needs to show a bit more modesty, its new chief executive, brought in to solve the group's deepest-ever crisis, said in a magazine interview Thursday.

"A bit of self-confidence notwithstanding, some degree of modesty would become us," Matthias Mueller told the weekly magazine Stern.

Mueller was parachuted in to steer VW out of the wreckage of a global scandal after the group was forced to admit it had installed emission-cheating software in 11 million diesel engines worldwide.

The affair has severely dented VW's image, which is currently racing neck and neck with Toyota to become the world's biggest carmaker in terms of sales.

"Size isn't an end in itself," Mueller said.

"At the moment, we're a car manufacturer. In the future, we want to take the wider view and become a mobility group," he said, pointing to advances in electric and digital cars.

The diesel affair was something "that is going to occupy us and me fully in the immediate future, financially as well," Mueller said.

"At the same time, and this is just as important, we are going to have to completely reposition the group," he said.

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VOLKSWAGEN