Wolfsburg, Germany, Oct 7 (Reuters): New Volkswagen Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said it would take ”some time” to clear up a diesel emissions scandal that has hammered the company's stock and reputation.

”Nobody is served by speculation or vague, preliminary progress reports,” Poetsch told a news conference after being confirmed as the carmaker's new chairman on Wednesday.

”Therefore it will take some time until we have factual and reliable results and can provide you with comprehensive information,” he added, declining to take any questions.

Earlier, Volkswagen's supervisory board held crisis talks, facing deadlines from German regulators and US lawmakers to explain its rigging of diesel emissions tests and what it is doing to tackle the scandal.

More than two weeks after it admitted to cheating US emissions tests, Europe's largest carmaker is under pressure to identify those responsible, to say how vehicles with illegal software will be fixed and whether it also cheated in Europe.

The biggest business crisis in Volkswagen's 78-year history has wiped more than a third off its share price, forced out its long-time chief executive and sent shockwaves through both the global car industry and the German establishment.

Germany's KBA watchdog has set Wednesday as a deadline for Volkswagen to spell out plans to make its diesel vehicles comply with emissions laws.

The company has said it may have to refit up to 11 million cars and vans worldwide, and new CEO Matthias Mueller said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday recalls would start in January and would be completed by the end of 2016.

Volkswagen has said the illegal software was not activated on the bulk of the 11 million vehicles, most of which are in Europe, leaving uncertainty over whether it rigged tests there.

Data on Wednesday showed German industrial output fell at its steepest pace in a year in August, suggesting Europe's largest economy may be losing momentum just as the Volkswagen scandal casts a cloud over manufacturing.