Volkswagen crisis: Swiss authorities ‘ban sale of 180000 vehicles’ over

Those events are what is causing massive turmoil with Volkswagen, the disclosure that 11 million diesel vehicles have software embedded in them that allow them to beat emissions certification tests.

According to the Zeit newspaper, KBA requested from Volkswagen “to order the necessary measures to ensure that the vehicles in production are brought into conformity with the approved type”.

Italian media reported on Sunday that Volkswagen’s Italian unit has sent a letter to all of its dealers to stop selling cars that have the affected diesel engine.

“Martin Winterkorn, in his statement announcing his resignation as chief executive of Volkswagen this week, said he was “shocked” and “stunned” that the company had programmed some of its cars to cheat on emissions tests”. These included the Audi A3, VW Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat models built with Type EA 189 diesel engines in the last seven years. Up to 80,000 cars in Ireland may have been affected by the emissions-rigging scandal.

About a quarter of the company’s market value has been wiped out this week, leaving powerful shareholders such as the Porsche family, Qatar and the German state of Lower Saxony nursing big losses.

The US Environmental Protection Agency accuses the German firm of using software to circumvent standards for certain air pollutants.

Thomas Rohrbach, spokesman for the Swiss federal office of roadways, said the move could potentially affect 180,000 vehicles that have 1.2-litre, 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre diesel engines.

“We can clearly say that emissions manipulation was a moral and policy disaster”, said Berthold Huber, who heads the committee of 20.

“Today we’re putting vehicle manufacturers on notice that our testing is now going to include additional valuation and tests designed to look for potential defeat devices”, Grundler said, speaking to reporters.

The scandal at VW is putting diesel emissions across the industry under scrutiny.

Volkswagen has issued a profit warning and disclosed a EUR6.5 billion ($7.27 billion) charge to earnings to cover the costs of addressing the matter, although US fines could be much higher.

Mueller, the head of VW’s Porsche sports-car division, had been widely expected to be Winterkorn’s replacement.

And in the US, the Justice Department said it is taking the allegations against the company “very seriously” and announced an investigation.