United Kingdom: about 1.2 million cars equipped with VW’s illegal software

“However it is our understanding that the software is inactive in all vehicles with the EA189 engine”, said Audi Australia general manager of corporate communications, Anna Burgdorf, when referring to Australian delivered cars.

Volkswagen said the models affected include 508,276 Volkswagen cars, 393,450 Audis, 76,773 Seats, 131,569 Skodas and 79,838 Volkswagen commercial vehicles.

Owners – who will be contacted in coming weeks – will be asked to take their cars in for a service procedure that a few experts have warned could affect fuel economy and performance.

In a statement on Thursday evening the firm said: “In the coming days, the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) details of affected vehicles will be released centrally from brands to retailers”. The company has said throughout the ordeal that the cars are safe to drive, and it appears executives are confident that its cars can be refitted to pass the EPA-mandated emissions tests.

Volkswagen is understood to have suspended the research and development heads of Audi, VW’s core passenger vehicle division and sports auto maker Porsche.

It will also set up a system for drivers to check themselves if their vehicle needs modifying. It is reported that when running normally, the cars emit up to 40 times the pollution limit.

The VW group of cars account for a quarter of all auto sales in the country.

On Wednesday the company confirmed that nearly 1.2 million vehicles sold in the United Kingdom were affected by the scandal.

This included a number of vehicles produced by its subsidiaries Audi, Seat, and Skoda.

Volkswagen Group has revealed how it intends to rectify the emissions-falsifying issue that has enveloped the company in an worldwide scandal.

German prosecutors also opened an investigation against former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn as a result of the scandal.

The software detects when the auto is being tested and adjusts the emission of air pollutants to make it seem as though the vehicle performs better than it does when driven normally.