Not Even VW Knows How Much the Emissions Scandal Will Cost

The postponement will also wreak havoc on the company's internal rolodex, pushing back the March 10 annual press conferences and April 21 shareholders' meeting. VW promises to release the new dates as soon as possible, but isn't yet suggesting a timeframe for an announcement.

In a statement, VW attributes these delays to "remaining open questions and the resulting valuation calculations relating to the diesel emissions issue." The company believes that operating results will be similar to last year, but the special costs of the scandal will affect the automaker's financial performance.

VW hasn't been very open about how hard the scandal will hit its coffers, but the figure has already been in the billions. Shortly after the diesel emissions problem surfaced, the company set aside the equivalent of $7.3 billion to cover the cost of the as-yet unknown fix, but VW Group CEO Matthias Müller admitted it wasn't enough, according to Bloomberg. Later in the year, the automaker lined up $21 billion in loans for the anticipated expenses.

The diesel scandal's costs will follow VW throughout 2016. While it's repairing vehicles in Europe, neither the California Air Resources Board nor the Environmental Protection Agency accept the proposed repairs for the 2.0- and 3.0-liter engines in the US. The continued engineering effort to devise a solution for the US can't be inexpensive. A plan to buy back some vehicles would increase expenses even more, and there's still the strong possibility of government fines.