Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Audi Admits 2.1 Million of Its Diesel Cars Had Software Cheat

2015 Audi A3 TDI

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More than two million of the 11 million cars fitted globally with Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating software code were Audis. The Volkswagen Group’s premium brand today admitted that 2.1 million of its vehicles were caught up in the scandal, with more than a quarter of them having been sold in Germany. Fewer than 15,000 of the cars were sold in the U.S.

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The software, engineered to rig the NOx emissions of the Volkswagen Group’s EA189 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel engines during laboratory testing, was installed in diesel versions of the A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, and TT, as well as the Q3 and Q5 crossover SUVs. None of the affected vehicles have the 3.0-liter V-6 TDI engine offered in several U.S.-market models.

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Of the total, almost two million were sold in European markets, where small engines and diesel power dominate among fleets and business drivers. While some of the cars went to markets such as Australia, South Africa, and the U.S., “it’s mainly a Europe problem for Audi,” a spokesman said. “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,” he said.

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2010 Audi A3 TDI

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2010 Audi A3 TDI
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Audi cannot give a breakdown of numbers for affected countries except for its home market in Germany (approximately 570,000 vehicles) and the U.S., nor is it specifying the numbers for each model. Audi’s spokesman said the complexities of the world’s various homologation requirements made it difficult to locate all of the cars as fast as they would like to.

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“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 were told. “We have to look at every model concerning the gearbox, engine, etc., and every body style has a different homologation.”

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