WASHINGTON -- Porsche Cars North America will discontinue sales of the Cayenne Diesel until further notice after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Monday that the crossover and other Volkswagen Group models powered by 3.0-liter diesel engines contained illegal software to manipulate emissions.
Porsche said it made the decision voluntarily and "in view of the unexpected U.S. EPA notice" the company received Monday.
"We are working intensively to resolve this matter as soon as possible. Customers may continue to operate their vehicles normally" Porsche said.
The agency said Monday that emissions “defeat devices” were used on the 2015 Porsche Cayenne, 2014 VW Touareg, 2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L, and Q5 models powered by the VW Group’s 3.0-liter diesel engine, which was developed by Audi. Previously, only vehicles with 2.0-liter diesels were involved in the automaker’s emissions scandal in the U.S.
VW Group on Monday denied the EPA’s charges, and said it would fully cooperate to resolve the issue.
About 10,000 vehicles from the 2014 and 2015 model years contained the newly discovered defeat devices, plus an unknown number of 2016 models, according to the EPA.
As of late Tuesday, Porsche was the only one of the three brands to voluntarily suspend sales of affected vehicles with 3.0-liter diesels involved in the EPA’s announcement Monday.
Neither Audi nor VW have announced similar stop sale orders in the U.S., spokespersons for the brands said in response to queries from Automotive News, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe.
