Expressing his “irritation” with one of Germany’s biggest employers, Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Wednesday that all models sold under the VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat brands – with diesel and petrol engines – would be tested for carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions.
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On Tuesday, VW admitted that it had understated the carbon dioxide emissions for 800,000 cars, widening the scope of a scandal that has forced the ouster of a CEO and prompted investigations and lawsuits on several continents.
The VW Group has halted sales of Porsche, Audi and VW cars in the USA fitted with the 3.0 litre diesel engine after the EPA claimed they contained a defeat device.
The firm rejected allegations that it is cheating on diesel-emissions tests included Porsche and other high-end vehicles. In its third-quarter earnings, Volkswagen has recorded $7.4 billion as a cost to pay for fixing its vehicles.
Wednesday sale stoppage went far beyond these models to include any 2013-2016 model-year Volkswagen and Audi vehicles with 3.0-liter diesel engines alongside the Porsche SUVs.
That recall is for cars with variants of the EA 189 diesel engine built to the “Euro 5” emissions standard. Later in September, the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed it was investigating whether four-cylinder diesels on 2016 models had a different cheating device.
The new sales freeze covers diesel VW Touaregs, Audi A6, A7 and A8s, and Q5 and Q7s, all from the 2014-2016 model years. Sales by 56% were given in the United States on VW vehicles.
Brad Stertz, spokesman for Audi said during an interview that his company was working together with the EPA and CARB to see the emission results and understand how they arrived at the conclusion they did.
The carmaker said late Tuesday it had also found “unexplained inconsistencies” in emissions from a few of its vehicles of carbon dioxide, a gas that scientists say contributes to global warming.
“The Council requested Volkswagen Nigeria to within seven days of the receipt of its letter make available to it the number of affected vehicles in Nigeria, if any, steps taken to inform and sensitize consumers and efforts being made to facilitate quick recall of such vehicles in the country”.
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However, Jeannine Ginivan, spokeswoman for Volkswagen Group of America, said “we are told the issue is not related to the USA market”.
