Berlin: Germany on Thursday ordered luxury car brand Porsche to recall 22,000 vehicles across Europe over emissions test cheating amid a widening election-year scandal.
Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters that “illegal” software disguising the true level of polluting emissions had been discovered in Porsche’s Cayenne and Macan models, which must now be fixed.
Dobrindt said that because the affected models are still being manufactured, Berlin would also deny any permits for the vehicles “until new software is available”.
Porsche is a subsidiary of Volkswagen, which admitted in 2015 to cheating regulatory emissions tests in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide.
Prosecutors in the southwestern city of Stuttgart, a bastion of Germany’s all-important car industry, had said earlier this month they had opened a probe against persons unknown working for Porsche. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
