European Union sales of new VW cars equipped with software that can cheat emissions tests have been stopped, the German automaker announced.
A VW spokesman told Reuters the move affects a limited number of diesel cars equipped with EA 189 Euro 5 four-cylinder turbodiesel engines. The cars are being held at dealerships and will only be put up for sale after VW will fix the issue, the representative added.
The EA189 engine was replaced by the EA 288 in 2014, with the latter being offered in models for the US market since the start of the 2015 model year.
In a separate statement issued today, VW said diesel cars with EA 288 engines (both Euro 5 and Euro 6) meet legal and environmental requirements.
“Volkswagen confirms today that no software constituting an improper defeat device as defined in law is installed in vehicles with EA 288 EU5 as well as EU6-engines in the European Union. Consequently, new vehicles of the Volkswagen Group offered within the European Union with those engines comply with legal requirements and environmental standards,” the automaker said.
This contradicts a recent report which said VW had developed defeat devices for the EA 288 engine as well.
The automaker announced last week it would recall 8.5 million vehicles in the European Union, including 2.4 million in Germany, as the cars may be equipped with banned software that reduces toxic emissions during testing. VW has set aside over $7 billion (€6.28 billion) to pay for these repairs, but many estimate the costs will be several times higher than that.
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