As Volkswagen’s dieselgate scandal deepens, Audi has admitted that 2.1 million of its diesel cars have been installed with the software cheat which allowed the Volkswagen Group to deceive and pass strict U.S. emissions testing.
The diesel engine in question is VW’s 2.0-litre four-cylinder EA189 diesel also used by the Audi A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, TT, Q3 and Q5. Of the 2.1 million Audi vehicles fitted with the software, just 13,000 reside in the United States with the vast majority being in Europe, one-fourth of which were sold in Germany.
The German automaker is still investigating the issues and has yet to locate all affected models and were they were sold and delivered to. In a statement regarding this, Audi said “Some countries switched to EU6 [the latest European Commission emissions regulations] 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, etc., and every body style has a different homologation.”
Audi went on to say “between the cars in Europe and the 13,000 [A3 TDIs] in the U.S., it’s most of the two million. Owners will get 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.”
