Emissions software at the heart of the problem.
The transport ministry of Germany (the Kraftfahrtbundesamt, or KBA) have placed a ban on sales of the Porsche Cayenne diesel following the suspected discovery of emissions manipulation software. The ban was confirmed by German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt on Thursday, who clarified that KBA testing showed that two Porsche SUV diesel models were fitted with software that reduced emissions by going into a ‘warm up strategy’ mode when it detected that it was being subject to emissions testing.
Both the Macan and the bigger Cayenne run the same Audi-engineered 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6, which sees use in a raft of Volkswagen Group cars across its brands. Aside from banning the sales of new Cayenne diesels, the KBA has also issued a recall notice for the 22,000 Cayenne diesels already on Germany’s roads, which will see the affected cars given updated software that’ll put its emissions back on the right side of the fence.
Separately, Porsche’s workers’ union leader Uwe Hück made comments earlier last week about how the company feels about sister-manufacturer Audi’s engines, supplied to them with the confidence that they were entirely compliant with regulations at the time. Speaking to German publication Bild am Sonntag, Hück said:
“We feel deceived by Audi. The supervisory board should fire the management.” – Uwe Hück
In response to the remark, Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Müller hit back at Hück’s comments, saying that his comments were “anything but helpful,” and that the supervisory board “certainly needs no lecturing on how it has to do its job.” Müller went on to say that Hück’s comments were not in keeping with Volkswagen’s corporate culture, though a separate report in German news outlet Handelsblatt reported that Audi is considering the dismissal of four members of Audi’s management as a result of the Dieselgate scandal.
Thus far, there is no news as to how the German ban will affect Australian sales, but stay tuned to CarShowroom as we bring you more updates as they come.
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