Porsche, Audi & VW 3.0 Diesel sales HALTED in US over emissions scandal

The VW Group has halted sales of Porsche, Audi and VW cars in the US fitted with the 3.0 litre diesel engine after the EPA claimed they contained a defeat device.

Earlier this week, America’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared they believed that the VW Group had fitted a defeat device to their 3.0 litre diesel engine to scam emissions tests, resulting in the affected cars emitting up to nine times the NOx levels permitted when the cars were not undergoing official testing.

VW denied the allegation and claimed that the device wasn’t a defeat device, but an undeclared auxiliary emissions control device (AECD) that is legal and designed to protect the engine.

But despite the denial of wrongdoing – beyond a failure to declare the device – VW has decided it will halt the sale of all cars in the US fitted with the device – new and used.

That means that in addition to the cars fitted with the EA 189 diesel engine – which were withdrawn from sale after the defeat device scandal broke – the VW Group has now withdrawn from sale all diesel-engined Porsche Cayenne, VW Touareg, Audi Q7, Q5, A6 and A8 models, which means there are now no VW Group diesel-engined cars on sale in the US.

VW say they are meeting with the EPA to explain the device in the coming weeks, although the EPA said on Monday that “…an AECD designed to circumvent emissions test is a defeat device”.

No doubt there’s more to come.