Volkswagen gets state backing to refinance car loans

FRANKFURT: The finance unit of German car giant Volkswagen said on Wednesday it had received up to 2 billion euros (2.5 billion dollars) in state guarantees for refinancing car loans.

Volkswagen Bank is the first auto lender to get state backing in Germany as part of a broad rescue plan for the banking sector worth 480 billion euros.

"With these guarantees... we are helping to limit the effects of the financial crisis," Frank Witter, head of financial services at Volkswagen, said in a statement announcing the new measures.