Over 128,000 Swiss cars affected by fraudulent emissions

Swiss authorities looking at new measures to avoid more foreign cars fitted with defeat devices enter into circulation Keystone

Swiss authorities followed Volkswagen’s biggest Swiss distributor in confirming the numbers of cars in circulation fitted with fraudulent emissions reporting systems by the German automobile manufacturer.

On Monday evening, Switzerland’s federal roads office External link announced that approximately 130,000 diesel engine cars produced by the German automobile giant between 2009 and 2014 “could be concerned” in the country. These include cars in the Euro5 emissions category, produced by Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen.

A statementExternal link issued by the federal office said it was “preparing decisions aimed avoiding the circulation of new and used foreign vehicles. Due to this measure it would avoid the entry into Swiss circulation of additional vehicles that had potentially been manipulated”.

Earlier on Monday, Amag, the largest importer of Volkswagens into Switzerland, estimated that 128,802 Volkswagen vehicles were being driven on Swiss roads. This figure does not include cars sold by independent distributors.

Last Friday, Switzerland was the first country to ban the sales of new vehicles produced by the German group. Cars already in circulation are not affected by the ban.

VW admitted that week that 11 million cars, including 5 million Volkswagen passenger cars, were equipped with defeat devices.