US authorities have asked the German carmaker Volkswagen to produce electric vehicles in the US as a way of making up for its rigging of emission tests, the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported.

The US Environmental Protection Agency is currently in talks with Volkswagen with the aim of agreeing on a fix for nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles that emit up to 40 times legal pollution limits.

The paper, which gave no source for its report, said the EPA was asking VW to produce electric vehicles at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and to help build a network of charging stations for electric vehicles in the US.

Some of Volkswagen's cars already feature electric or hybrid motors. It was not clear from Welt am Sonntag's report whether the EPA was asking VW to produce new models or existing ones.

Five months after the emissions scandal broke in the US, Europe's leading carmaker has yet to come up with a technical fix for almost 600,000 diesel cars, and is facing a growing number of legal claims.

"Talks with the EPA are ongoing and we are not commenting on the contents and state of the negotiations," a VW spokesman said. The EPA was not immediately available for comment.  - Reuters