Audi in the spotlight over emissions

Audi's top-selling model released excessive toxic diesel emissions in results from lab tests run by the European Commission and seen by Reuters, raising suspicions of wrongdoing at Volkswagen's luxury division. The results threaten to embroil Audi in the scandal that has engulfed the company since it admitted cheating US emissions tests with software to mask nitrogen oxides (NOx). The lab tests run by the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) in August showed the latest Euro 6 diesel gener
December 16, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
2125 Audi's top-selling model released excessive toxic diesel emissions in results from lab tests run by the European Commission and seen by Reuters, raising suspicions of wrongdoing at 994 Volkswagen's luxury division.

The results threaten to embroil Audi in the scandal that has engulfed the company since it admitted cheating US emissions tests with software to mask nitrogen oxides (NOx).

The lab tests run by the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) in August showed the latest Euro 6 diesel generation A3 emitted 163 milligrams of nitrogen oxides  per kilometre, double the statutory 80mg cap.

A separate lab-based test showed the A3 emitting 140mg of NOx at an engine temperature of 10 degrees Celsius, but emissions were below 80mg when the car was run with a cold engine.

"The differences between cold start and hot start are hard to explain," said Bas Eikhout, a lawmaker on the European Parliament's inquiry committee into the VW scandal.

Audi dismissed the results, saying the level of 163 milligrams was inflated by erroneous measurements on behalf of the JRC. Key parameters such as the state of the catalytic converter systems of the tested vehicles remain unclear, a spokesman said by email.

Other tests in Britain and Germany have shown the A3 compact, which topped the brand's sales rankings this year ahead of the A4 and A6 models, is complying with legal limits, he said.

EU regulators depend on the JRC's work to help to shape policy, but member states are responsible for policing their car industries.

A Commission spokeswoman said that the JRC's results were still preliminary. "If the test results raise some suspicion of wrongdoing, such as the installation of prohibited defeat devices, they will be shared with all relevant approval authorities," she said.

Germany's KBA motor vehicle authority declined to comment.
Air Quality & Weather Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Europe’s road safety gains have stagnated EU
    March 17, 2017
    Europe will fail to meet its road death targets as enforcement budgets are slashed and drivers face an epidemic of distractions. The European Union will not achieve its aim of halving the number of people killed on its roads each year by 2020, delegates to Tispol’s (the organisation of European traffic police) annual conference in Manchester were told. “The target will be missed because there was only a 17% decrease in road fatalities across Europe between 2010 and 2015 when [the rate of reduction] should h
    Read More
  • Poll: Americans would pay more gas taxes to fund road projects
    June 12, 2014
    Two-thirds of Americans (68 per cent) believe the federal government should invest more than it does now on roads, bridges and mass transit systems, according to a new American Automobile Association (AAA) omnibus survey of 2,013 adults. Only five per cent of respondents believe the federal government should spend less on transportation. These results come as AAA urges members of Congress to increase the fuel tax, which will address significant transportation safety and congestion issues nationwide. The
    Read More
  • Imperatives to shape extended mobility ecosystems of tomorrow
    April 10, 2014
    New survey shows cities ill prepared to meet the increasing demand for urban mobility. Most of the world’s cities are ill-equipped to cope with the predicted increase in demands on urban travel – that is the stark finding of the second ‘Future of Urban Mobility’ study carried out by global management consultancy Arthur D. Little. Compiled in association with the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), the survey examines and rates urban mobility in 84 cities worldwide against an extended set o
    Read More
  • ‘Free’ power for signs, shelters and so much more
    March 17, 2016
    David Crawford looks at the sunny side of the street. Solar power has been relatively slow in entering the transport sector, but a current blossoming of activity bodes well for the large-scale harnessing of an alternative energy that is zero-emission at source and, in practical terms, infinitely renewable. Traffic management and traveller information systems, and actual vehicles, are all emerging as areas for deployment. Meanwhile roads themselves are being viewed as new-style, fossil fuel-free ‘power stati
    Read More

Highlighted Content