BERLIN -- German prosecutors have widened a criminal investigation into Volkswagen's Audi unit after authorities accused the luxury carmaker of installing a system designed to evade emissions rules in cars in Europe, a major shift for an inquiry that has previously concentrated on the United States.
The move, announced Friday by authorities in Munich, adds to the troubles facing Volkswagen. The company has been hit by a wave of lawsuits and penalties after revelations in 2015 that it illegally used so-called defeat devices to pollute more than was allowed.
The automaker has already agreed to pay $22 billion in penalties and settlements in the United States and pleaded guilty to its vast emissions deception, which involved a variety of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche-branded vehicles. Six Volkswagen executives face criminal charges in the United States. And the company is grappling with further legal action in Europe, where dozens of senior staff members -- including its former chief executive -- are being investigated.
Munich prosecutors searched Audi offices in March as part of a criminal investigation into Audi's behavior in the United States, threatening a crucial source of badly needed profit. At the time, prosecutors said the raids were to determine who was responsible for the U.S. wrongdoing.
On Friday, Munich officials said they had widened the investigation to include vehicles in Europe. According to Ken Heidenreich, a spokesman for the Munich prosecutors' office, the decision came after an announcement by Alexander Dobrindt, Germany's transportation minister, that officials had found software that altered the emissions on Audi's A7 and A8 sedans from model years 2009-13.
Audi said in a statement issued after the announcement that it would begin recalling the vehicles in July to correct emissions levels of nitrogen oxide that can "exceed the limit by a factor of up to two."
The Audis affected included software designed to ensure that a urea solution that neutralizes the emissions was administered in high enough doses only in a controlled test-lab environment. But out on the road, the amount of solution administered to the system would be decreased so drivers would not have to fill the tank containing it as frequently.
Audi wanted to minimize consumption of the solution, known as AdBlue, because it feared that the inconvenience and expense of refilling the holding tank would turn off buyers.
It said that it was cooperating fully with the investigation and Germany's federal motor transport authority. It apologized to customers for "the inconvenience."
The investigation is troubling for Volkswagen because Audi is a major profit center for the company.
Audi's luxury cars account for a disproportionate share of Volkswagen's profits, so any damage to Audi's image would be particularly serious. Luxury models like the Audi A8 sedan or the Q7 SUV accounted for about 15 percent of the vehicles sold by Volkswagen last year but produced a third of its $16.4 billion operating profit.
In addition to admitting that its Volkswagen-brand vehicles illegally evaded U.S. emissions requirements, the company has said that Audi cars sold in the United States had at least three devices that managed the vehicles' pollution control systems but were not disclosed to regulators as required.
On top of what Volkswagen has already agreed to pay in fines and settlements in the United States, Audi will pay $1.2 billion to settle a consumer fraud lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission involving about 80,000 Audi and Porsche vehicles with diesel motors.
Volkswagen has insisted that no members of its management board were aware of the emissions fraud, which lasted a decade and, according to the company's plea agreement in the United States, included engineers, quality-control experts, high-ranking managers and internal lawyers.
Business on 06/03/2017