Volkswagen is offering thousands of pounds for you to swap your dirty diesel car for something more environmentally friendly.

And you can now receive up to £8,000 for exchanging any VW group vehicle, registered before 2010. This includes Skoda, Seat and Audi cars and commercial vehicles.

VW has joined other manufacturers, including Hyundai, Ford, Vauxhall, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, who have been offering hefty sums towards the purchase of a new vehicle in exchange for an old diesel vehicle.

The German giant has been attempting to repair its reputation after cheating emissions tests and the company hopes claw back sales of new cars which have slumped.

Under the scheme you can get £1,800 off a new Up! supermini, £4,000 off a Golf and £6,000 off a Sharan people carrier. Top of the discounts under the scheme is on a hybrid Audi Q7 e-tron SUV, on which you'll get £8,000 towards the purchase.

The deal is available until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Toyota has launched a diesel scrappage scheme with discounts of between £2,000 and £4,000.

Vehicles aged seven years or older qualify for the scheme which ends on December 31.