Volkswagen's new boss began trying to pull the embattled carmaker out of the wreckage of a pollution test rigging scandal Saturday, as the United States and Switzerland banned the sale of the group's new diesel cars.

The 62-year-old former Porsche chief Matthias Mueller was tapped Friday to replace Martin Winterkorn, who resigned over stunning revelations by US environmental authorities that the German carmaker had fitted some of its diesel cars with software capable of cheating environmental tests.

The scale of VW's deception became clear when the company admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars are equipped with so-called defeat devices that covertly turn off pollution controls when the car is being driven -- and back on when tests are being conducted.

The scam could lead to fines worth more than $18 billion (€16.1 billion), while the German giant has already seen billions of euros wiped off its stocks this week.

Mueller has pledged an "unsparing investigation and maximum transparency" in his bid to restore confidence in the Volkswagen Group, AFP reported.

"We will overcome this crisis," he said Friday, adding that the carmaker could "emerge stronger from the crisis in the long term" if it learned from its mistakes.

For now however, the crisis shows no sign of abating with the US environmental regulator refusing to authorize the sale of Volkswagen's new diesel models.

France and Britain have announced new checks and the European Union has urged its 28 member states to investigate whether vehicles in their countries complied with pollution rules.

India and Mexico have also opened fraud probes into Volkswagen cars sold there.

VW's main shareholder said Saturday it was buying the 1.5 percent of Volkswagen held by Japanese carmaker Suzuki to show its "faith" in the group.