2.1m Audi cars fitted with emission-cheating software

Frankfurt

Volkswagen’s top-of-the-range automaker Audi said yesterday 2.1 million of its diesel cars worldwide are fitted with the sophisticated software enabling them to cheat emission tests. 

In Germany alone, 577,000 vehicles were affected and 13,000 in the United States, an Audi spokesman said. 

In western Europe as a whole, the number was 1.42 million. 

The models concerned were the A1, A3, A4, A6, Q3, Q5 and also the TT, the spokesman said. 

VW sparked global outrage last week when it admitted that 11m of its diesel cars are equipped with so-called defeat devices that activate pollution controls during tests but covertly turn them off when the car is on the road.

1.2m Skoda affected

Meanwhile, Skoda said that over a million cars were fitted with pollution cheating software to dupe emissions tests.

“I can confirm that where the Skoda brand is concerned, there are 1.2m cars that were produced,” said Skoda spokesman Jozef Balaz.

“We are talking about previously produced EA 189 motors, which are now in use,” Balaz said in a statement, adding that the vehicles in question were “completely safe in everyday use”.

“All new Skoda cars equipped with diesel motors on sale in the European Union fulfil the Euro 6 emissions norm,” he said.