It doesn't seem like there's an end in sight for Volkswagen's emissions scandal any time soon.
Nearly a month after vowing to make 11 million faulty diesel vehicles comply with emissions laws via a massive recall beginning in January and ending in late 2016, the embattled automaker has another problem. USA Today is reporting that Volkswagen has stopped sales of certain diesel Audi models after the Environmental Protection Agency accused the manufacturer's vehicles of violating emissions regulations.
U.S. dealers have been issued a halt-sale order for 3-liter, 6-cylinder diesel versions of the 2015-16 Audi A6, A7, A8 and Q5 in addition to preowned certified vehicles of the same models. This comes on top of the news that VW has also halted sales of diesel versions of the 2015-16 Touareg and the 2014-16 Porsche Cayenne.
According to USA Today, the EPA and California Air Resources Board are charging that the automaker installed cheating software in the aforementioned models to circumvent U.S. regulations for nitrogen oxide emissions.
This is obviously not the kind of press that CEO Matthias Mueller and Volkswagen want to have engulf its already-battered reputation due to having admitted to installing similar cheating software in at least 11 million vehicles worldwide, when its emissions scandal first erupted in September.
Audi spokesman Brad Stertz said the automaker is "trying to work with EPA and CARB to show our emission results and understand how they came to their conclusion," but regulators are saying the company used a "defeat device" like its parent company VW did, as reported by USA Today.
