The head of Volkswagen in Ireland says no customer's car should be devalued as a result of the emissions scandal.

The company says it's writing to all Volkswagen customers this week to outline options to address the emissions problems with their cars.

It says the solution will be free to all customers, and that just over half of all affected vehicles should be fixed within an hour as a software solution will be possible.

However just under half of all vehicles will also require a hardware fix, though the company says these solutions can be applied at the time of a vehicle service without any extra expense to the owner.

Lars Himmer, the managing director of the Volkswagen Group in Ireland, says the solutions will NOT reduce the value of affected cars.