Audi has halted deliveries of seventh-generation A6 and A7 models fitted with its V6 diesel engine after discovering 'irregularities' in the unit’s management software.
The issue relates to the 268bhp V6 variant of the Gen2 Evo engine that's used in the outgoing A6 and A7. The German transport ministry has now summoned Audi for a formal hearing about whether the units were fitted with a ‘defeat device’ to help the cars pass emissions tests.
In a statement, Audi said it discovered irregularities during “internal investigations of the diesel issue”, adding that it immediately reported the discovery to the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority, as well as the Luxembourg vehicle registration authority.
Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said: “We regularly inform the KBA about the results of our systematic engine test programme. We report any abnormalities to the licensing authority, since our highest interest is in full disclosure. We did that immediately in this case.”
The issue was first reported by German magazine Der Spiegel, which claims that around 30,000 vehicles in Germany are affected. A total of 60,000 vehicles around the world are understood to have the affected engines fitted.
According to a statement obtained by Reuters, the KBA has requested a hearing with Audi due to the suspicion that the cars “have been fitted with an illegal defeat device”.
Amid the Volkswagen Group's Dieselgate scandal, Audi was previously quizzed over whether emissions-cheating software was fitted to diesel A6 and A7 models sold between 2009 and 2013.
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VW is not a premium brand
The problem is people think that VW (base company) is a company like BMW or Mercedes it is not, VW are the equivalent of Ford, Vauxhall and Renault etc it is only in "peoples minds" that VW/VAG is an upmarket engineering company or that they could be a serious engineering rivals to BMW and Merc, the clue should be that their cars are and have always been FWD hatchbacks or derivatives and that VAG seem to spend more time on the options for the booklet than organizing a long term test to see how long their gearboxes last in the real world. I am not here to defend Germany or the German car industry however people must make a differentiation between a genuine upmarket car company and VAG.
Marketing
Years and years of very clever marketing have led people to believe that German engineering is superior. I know to my cost that it is not (my VW Transporter owned from new needed a new engine at 4yrs/60,000 miles - very common on the 180 BiTDI engine). Read the problems that many VW Audi group cars have on the Honest John website. Their engineering is worse than most other manufacturers. And yet people still fall for the slick marketing, backed up by reviews in motoring magazines whose survival depends on said marketing!
More German car failings
This comes as a susprise...not! It's just yet another example of irregularities, cheating, questonable practices, poor engineering and design etc by the German car companies. And yet despite all of this the UK car buying public continues to but Audis, BMWs, Mercedes, Porsches and VWs in their droves. What will it take for us to stop, have a think about what these companies get up to and instead buy cars from other companies who produce much better cars through superior engineering, morals and ethics?
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Which companies provide superior engineering?
robhardyuk wrote:
JLR, PSA, McLaren, Aston Martin, Volvo, Ferrari, FCA, Ford, GM, Mazda, Toyota, Honda etc
[quote=robhardyuk]
[quote=robhardyuk]
Which companies provide superior engineering?
Lexus
Roadster wrote:
Dont drag Mercedes and BMW into it - they havent done anything wrong !
typos1 wrote:
Apart from gassing monkeys