MADRID: The Spanish government will require the Volkswagen subsidiary SEAT to return subsidies it had received to produce ‘efficient vehicles’, a top minister said on Saturday.

Jose Manuel Soria, the minister of industry, energy and tourism, said he expected SEAT to tell his ministry how many vehicles it had produced and sold containing software that cheats on diesel engine emissions tests. He did not give a figure for the amount of money he expected SEAT to return.

Soria said the Volkswagen Group has given its assurances that it would maintain its investments in Spain and that the emissions scandal would ‘not affect the activity or employment’ there. In a statement on Saturday, SEAT said it was appointing Luca de Meo as its new CEO and that Volkswagen Group’s confidence was shown by its investment of 3.3 billion euros for research-and-development facilities in Spain.