Porsche implicated in the VW diesel cheating scandal

[cheap]

This is going to be interesting because the new VW CEO is the old Porsche CEO.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/world...03-gkphv5.html

Luxury car brand Porsche has for the first time been implicated in the emissions scandal damaging its parent company, Volkswagen. Not for the first time, Australian consumers are in the dark about what this means for them.

The US Environmental Protection Agency on Monday (US time) said that it had discovered "defeat devices" in V6 engines of the type used in the 2015 Porsche Cayenne.

VW has once again failed in its obligation to comply with the law that protects clean air.

Volkswagen has denied the devices were used on the larger V6 engines and Porsche's US unit said it was "surprised" by the EPA announcement and that "until this notice, all of our information was that the Porsche Cayenne diesel is fully compliant".

Volkswagen in September admitted defeat devices had been used to cheat emissions tests in four-cylinder diesel cars and the US Federal Government demanded the recall of 500,000 cars under the Volkswagen and Audi marks.
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The cars were found to use software that lowered emissions of Nitrogen Oxide to within legislated limits when they were being tested, but, in actual driving conditions, levels of the toxic gas could be up to 40 times the legal limit.

A spokesman for Porsche in Australia said the EPA's statement regarding larger engines was an "allegation" that had been denied by Volkswagen, and that the company was "not going to jump to any conclusions".

The 2014 Volkswagen Touareg is also potentially affected by the latest development, as well as the 2016 models of the Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L, and Q5.

"VW has once again failed in its obligation to comply with the law that protects clean air for all Americans," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

Volkswagen's denial of these latest diesel-cheating allegations sets up a new fight with US regulators that could prolong a scandal that threatens to weigh it down for another year or more.

"VW stresses that no software has been installed in the 3-liter V6 diesel engines to change emission results in an inadmissible way," the company said in an e-mail. "Volkswagen will fully cooperate with the EPA to clarify the matter unreservedly."

VW made similar denials for more than a year to US regulators before admitting to cheating on the four-cylinder diesels.

The scandal has unfolded at a distance for Australian consumers, who were made to wait for nearly a month after the US recall was demanded before a voluntary recall was announced here.

Many are still waiting for a promised "technical solution" that would bring emissions in line with regulations, but there are concerns that such a fix would affect the cars' performance.

On Monday, a class action lawsuit on behalf of about 91,000 Australian owners of Volkswagen diesel cars was launched in the Federal Court.

[Moby Vic]

It was inevitable, wasn't it?