BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Volkswagen says it's making structural changes that will help it speed up its internal decision-making processes.

Volkswagen said in a statement Thursday the number of top managers reporting directly to the CEO will be almost halved.

The moves come as the company grapples with the fallout of an emissions-cheating scandal, whose origins it says have been linked to a small group of company engineers. CEO Matthias Mueller has said VW's investigation has revealed "information was not shared" and has pledged changes to prevent such a situation arising again.

Starting in the first quarter of 2016, VW is appointing group heads to report to Mueller, including in areas of research and development, sales, design, and production.

Mueller says the "changes speed up the decision-making process, reduce complexity and increase efficiency."