German Transport Minister: Probes Found Defeat Devices in Porsches

German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Thursday said a probe by the German Federal Motor Transport Authority KBA found illegal defeat devices in vehicles of Volkswagen AG's Porsche brand.

Some 22,000 Porsche vehicles of the three-litre Porsche Cayenne TDI model are affected in Europe of which 7,500 are in Germany, said Mr. Dobrindt.

The ministry will demand that all affected Porsche models be recalled and will prohibit the registration of the affected vehicles, said Mr. Dobrindt.

The German transport minister also said the government is still examining whether the same software was also used in the Volkswagen Touareg.

Mr. Dobrindt said Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller agreed to fully cooperate in the matter.

Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter, during a conference call with analysts, declined to comment on the Porsche recall.

Porsche said in a statement that an internal probe found irregularities in the software that controls the engine and has communicated this to the German Motor Transport Authority. The irregularities aren't related to the software that controls the transmissions. Porsche said it agreed with the authorities that it would remedy the issue by a software update through a vehicle recall.

Regardless of the recall, Porsche continues its internal probes and continues to cooperate with the authorities, Porsche said in the statement.

Write to Andreas Kissler at andreas.kissler@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2017 13:38 ET (17:38 GMT)