Audi will reportedly need to buy back some 25,000 vehicles that cannot be modified to comply with U.S. air quality standards.
Reuters, citing a report in the German publication Der Spiegel, wrote Friday that preliminary discussions between parent company Volkswagen and U.S. officials found that at least that amount of 85,000 3.0-liter diesel vehicles in question would need to be re-bought by the automaker.
The talks are part of the ongoing saga of VW's diesel emissions scandal, in which millions of diesel vehicles made by VW and its subsidiaries were equipped with software to manipulate emissions levels during official testing.
Volkswagen earlier this year reached a $14.7 billion settlement with U.S. authorities regarding 475,000 2.0-liter engines.
Under the agreement, VW will either recall and repair the vehicles in question or buy them back for the value of the cars before word of the scandal broke in late 2015.
VW hopes that a fix to the cars, if approved by federal regulators, would reduce the recall costs considerably.
Negotiations about another 85,000 3.0-liter vehicles, meanwhile, remain ongoing after regulators rejected an initial proposal from Volkswagen.
The 25,000 vehicles likely to be bought back, Reuters noted, are generally older Audi models that would cost more to repair anyway.
