Up to 80,000 Irish cars affected by VW diesel scandal

Up to 80,000 Irish cars may be affected by the Volkswagen diesel scandal which continued to gather momentum on Thursday.

German federal transport minister Alexander Dobrindt confirmed that diesel engines sold in European models featured the same software used to cheat US emissions tests.

Volkswagen subsidiaries Audi, Skoda and Seat have confirmed they are examining whether their models' engines, the same as those in the affected Volkswagen cars, were controlled by the same software.

A Volkswagen Group spokesman said the turbodiesel engine in question comes in three variants: 2-litre, 1.6-litre and a 1.2-litre three-cylinder version.

Audi confirmed it used a version of the affected EA189 engine in its A1, A3, A4 and A6 models. A spokesman for the Ingolstadt firm said it was unable to give any further details about years of manufacture or the number of vehicles affected.

Sales statistics

Seat and Skoda were similarly unable to give precise details. But Skodas featuring the EA189 diesel are the Fabia, Roomster, Octavia and Superb models manufactured between 2009 and 2013.

New car sales statistics show nearly 80,000 Audi, Skoda, Seat and VW cars were sold in Ireland with 1.2-litre, 1.6-litre, 2-litre diesels between 2009 and 2014. VW Group Ireland has declined to give any information on the number of cars affected or which models from the four brands are involved.

Volkswagen AG shares fell again on news of the widening scandal, with a board meeting on Friday expected to confirm Porsche boss Matthias Müller as the new chief executive to replace Martin Winterkorn, who has resigned.

Reports also suggest several senior engineers are likely to be fired.

The controversy arose when Volkswagen admitted it had used software code to cheat on US tests for nitrogen oxide.

Emissions of nitrogen oxide are a major contributor to serious respiratory disease.

Emissions of nitrogen oxide are not part of the National Car Testing Service criteria, according to a spokesman for the Road Safety Authority.