Dieselgate: Audis affected top two million
Volkswagen's diesel 'defeat' software drags Audi into the spotlightUPDATE: More than two million of the 11 million cars fitted with Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating software code were Audis.
The Volkswagen Group’s premium brand overnight admitted that 2.1 million of its cars were caught up in the #Dieselgate scandal, with Audi admitting more than a quarter of them were sold in Germany.
The software, engineered to rig the NOx emissions of the Volkswagen Group’s EA189 2.0-litre, four-cylinder diesel engines during laboratory testing, was fitted to the A1, A3, A4, A5, A6 and the TT, plus the Q3 and Q5 SUVs.
Nearly two million of the “cheat code” Audi models were sold in Europe, where small engines and diesel power dominate fleets and business drivers. Almost 570,000 of the cars were sold in Germany.
Some of the Audis, built between 2009 and 2013, have been sold in Australia, though Audi’s head office cannot confirm how many, or what models the engines are in.
“It’s mainly a Europe problem for Audi,” a spokesman said.
“Between the cars in Europe and the 13,000 in the US, it’s most of the two million, but there are even cars in Australia that are affected. Owners will get an information soon and they will go to a website that will give them everything they need to know.
“We are working on a solution and as soon as we have that we will recall the cars and repair them,” he said.
Audi cannot give a breakdown of numbers for affected countries, except its home market in Germany and the US, nor the numbers for each model.
Audi’s spokesman said the complexities of the world’s national homologation requirements made it difficult to locate all of the affected cars as fast as they preferred.
“Some countries switched to EU6 [the latest European Commission regulation on tailpipe emissions] earlier than other markets, so not every country got the same specification of the engines at the same time.
“We have to look at every model concerning the gearbox, engine, and so on; and every body-style has a different homologation.”
Dieselgate related reading:
ACCC issues statement on VW emissions saga
Müller locked in as Volkswagen CEO
BMW forced to deny emissions rigging
Volkswagen boss Winterkorn to go as crisis spreads
Dieselgate worsens, 11m vehicles could be affected
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