"Next week VW releases its delayed annual report , giving some indication of how much more the whole saga will cost-difficult, with no American deal . "
Cost-difficult, does not mean anything, it is not a word either. Instead, it means that VW will release a report giving an indication of how much the saga will cost. the "-difficult" part is used as another sentence. Think of it like this: This will be difficult, with no American deal. So to sum it all up: how much more the saga will cost, which will we difficult, with no American deal. Here they just use the dash.