Germany Recalls Porsche Models It Says Have Defeat Devices--Update

Germany on Thursday ordered Porsche to recall and stop selling 22,000 diesel vehicles that the government says have illegal defeat devices.

Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said a probe by the German Federal Motor Transport Authority found the defeat devices, software that allows vehicles to dupe tests measuring emissions, in three-liter Porsche Cayenne TDI models in Europe, with 7,500 of those in Germany. The total recall, which includes vehicles already sold and some that haven't yet been delivered to customers, is equivalent to about 9% of the more than 235,000 vehicles Porsche sold world-wide last year.

Mr. Dobrindt said the same defeat device was probably also used on the Volkswagen Touareg, though that hasn't yet been confirmed. Matthias Mueller, chief executive of Volkswagen AG, which owns Porsche parent Audi AG, agreed to fully cooperate with the authorities, the minister said.

The new recall is yet another blow to Volkswagen, which has been unable to put the diesel scandal in the rearview mirror despite multiple settlements and internal investigations since 2015 when it first admitted to using defeat devices. It also follows on the heels of a recently revealed investigation into whether Volkswagen colluded with other German manufacturers including BMW AG to manipulated diesel engines.

Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter declined to comment on the Porsche recall when asked about it on a conference call Thursday with analysts.

Porsche said in a statement that an internal probe found irregularities in the software that controls the engine and alerted the transport authority. Porsche agreed with authorities that it would remedy the issue through a vehicle recall and software update. Porsche continues its internal probes and is cooperating with the authorities, it said in the statement.

A Porsche spokesman later said the company isn't responsible for engine irregularities as it gets its motors from Audi.

The Porsche recall announced Thursday isn't connected to the larger recall of Volkswagen Group vehicles in the U.S., said Audi spokesman Udo Rugheimer.

Zeke Turner and Andreas Kissler contributed to this article

Write to Markus Klausen at markus.klausen@wsj.com and Eric Sylvers at eric.sylvers@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2017 15:27 ET (19:27 GMT)