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Volkswagen will offer to buy back some of the cars affected by the emissions scandal in a deal agreed with US regulators, according to reports.

The agreement follows the discovery of "cheat" devices in 600,000 VW diesel cars last year.

The AP news agency said the German carmaker could also spend about $1bn (£700m) to compensate owners of the affected vehicles.

VW is expected to announce details of the deal on Thursday.

In March, US District Judge Charles Breyer gave VW until Thursday to announce a "concrete proposal" for taking the affected vehicles off the road.

He said the proposal could include a vehicle buyback plan, or a repair approved by US regulators that allows the cars to remain on the road.

In September last year the Environmental Protection Agency found that VW cars sold in the US had a "defeat device" - or software - in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested in a lab and change the performance to improve results.

Some models could be pumping out up to 40 times more than the legal limit of the pollutant nitrogen oxide.

In March, Volkswagen chief Matthias Mueller said that a deal with US authorities over its emissions scandal could take longer and cost more than expected.

He warned that the €6.7bn (£5.2bn) set aside to cover the costs of the scandal might not be enough.

VW, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department all declined to comment.