BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) - The criminal trial of former Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn over the so-called dieselgate scandal has been suspended due to his poor health, a court in Braunschweig said on Tuesday.

All hearings have been cancelled because Winterkorn, who was toppled from the helm of the company in 2015 after it emerged that millions of Volkswagen cars had been manipulated to pass environmental standards, will not be fit to attend in the coming months, the court said.

The first quarter of 2025 is now being considered as a new timeframe for the start of the 77-year-old's trial, the culmination of a case more than five years in the making.

The criminal charges against Winterkorn include fraud, market manipulation and unlawful false testimony before a parliamentary committee.

   He is also alleged to have failed to inform the capital market in good time about the mass manipulation of diesel engines in 2015.

At the start of the trial in September, Winterkorn said via his lawyer that he "did not defraud or harm anyone" and "did not deliberately leave the capital market in the dark so that investors would be harmed".

The suspension comes as the future of Volkswagen's German locations is in question and the carmaker looks for billions of euros in savings at its namesake brand.