German luxury brand Audi has halted production of its latest A6 model over suspicions it contains software to manipulate emissions controls, local media reported today, as the "dieselgate" scandal continues to dog parent company Volkswagen.
Confirming a report in news weekly Der Spiegel, Germany's transport ministry told AFP it was investigating the use of a new "illegal defeat device" in some 60,000 Audi cars, half of which are driving on German roads.
According to Spiegel, the current A6 model is equipped with software that deliberately slows down the use of a special pollution-cleaning fluid in the final 2,400 kilometres (1,500 miles) of its life span, to avoid drivers having to refill the so-called AdBlue liquid in between regular service updates.
But reducing the AdBlue function also drastically lowers its effectiveness in neutralising the engine's harmful nitrogen oxides, making the diesel cars far more polluting during that time.
"An official recall for at least the affected Audi cars registered on German roads is highly likely," Spiegel wrote, without citing its sources.
"Production of the model has been halted in the meantime," it added.
Germany's transport ministry said its KBA vehicles licensing had opened a probe into suspicions that Audi equipped some 60,000 "A6/A7 models" with a cheating device, "around 33,000 of them in Germany".