Porsche ordered to recall thousands of cars over emissions cheating

Germany is still reeling from a massive emissions scandal after Volkswagen admitted that it had installed defeat devices in as many as 11 million diesel cars

Reuters reported that German prosecutors had in June started an investigation into Porsche staff and whether they were involved in designing illicit engine-control software

Germany’s transport minister has ordered the recall of thousands of Porsche cars, saying that they contain software that allows emissions tests to be cheated.

Alexander Dobrindt said on Thursday that the model affected is the Cayenne 3-liter TDI, which is still being produced.

He said that authorities would be ordering a recall. Around 7,500 affected vehicles are registered in Germany and around 22,000 across Europe, he said.

Mr Dobrindt said that German authorities had carried out tests during which they had found so-called defeat device software, which is used to disguise the real extent of pollution.

Germany is still reeling from a massive emissions scandal after Volkswagen in September 2015 admitted that it had installed defeat devices in as many as 11 million diesel cars sold worldwide between 2008 and 2015.

Porsche is a division of the Volkswagen group.

Reuters reported that German prosecutors had in June started an investigation into Porsche staff and whether they were involved in designing such illicit engine-control software. The agency reported at the time that regulators were specifically examining whether the Cayenne had been fitted with those devices.

Stuttgart-based Porsche still relies on diesel engines and they account for about 15 per cent of its global sales.

In an interview earlier this month, Porsche chief executive officer Oliver Blume told Reuters that the carmaker will decide at the end of the decade whether its latest generation of diesel engines will be its last.