Hail damages up to 30,000 new VWs

Hail stones are usually closer to 5mm in diameter

Up to 30,000 brand new Volkswagen cars have been damaged by a storm of hail stones reported to be the size of ping-pong balls.

The cars were parked outside the Volkswagen plant at Emden on Germany's North Sea coast.

A spokesman for the carmaker said that each of the 30,000 vehicles would have to be examined for damage so they could be repaired before being sold.

The spokesman stressed that Volkswagen is insured against hailstorm damage.

There has been speculation that the damage could cost as much as 100m euros ($157m; £79m), but Volkswagen stressed that there could not yet be any cost figures because they had not yet examined all the cars.

The storm happened on Sunday, 22 June.