Volkswagen is in talks with Exxon Mobil Corp and Gazprom to back its efforts to promote cars running on natural gas, Chief Executive Matthias Mueller told Austria's ORF radio.

Europe's biggest carmaker is working on a shift towards electric cars and fuel-saving technologies as it looks to lower its fleet-wide carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and to overcome its diesel emissions scandal.

"We are now really trying to think out of the box and find solutions that can be helpful at least in this transition period of 10 to 20 years," Mueller said in the interview aired on Wednesday.

Separately, Mueller reiterated his opposition to offering payments to European customers affected by VW's emissions cheating.

More at Reuters.