Swiss suspend sales of VW models over rigged emission tests

Geneva: Swiss authorities said on Friday they had temporarily banned the sale of new Volkswagen brand diesel-engine models potentially equipped with software capable of tricking environmental tests.

Some 180,000 vehicles made by Volkswagen's Audi, Seat, Skoda and VW brands between 2009 and 2014 could be affected by the scandal, the Federal Roads Office said in a statement.

Models equipped with diesel engines of the type 1,2TDI, 1,6TDI and 2.0TDI may be fitted with software capable of tricking environmental tests, the government agency said.

It stressed that only cars designed to meet Eur05 emission standards were affected and not the Eur06 engines.

The announcement came after Volkswagen appointed Porsche chief Matthias Mueller Friday to steer it out of the widening scandal over pollution test rigging.

The scale of VW's deception became clear when the German company admitted that 11 million of its diesel cars are equipped with so-called defeat devices that covertly turn off pollution controls when the car is being driven and back on when tests are being conducted.

The Swiss Federal Roads Office said it had created a taskforce to investigate which types of vehicles sold in Switzerland are in fact equipped with the software.

The taskforce has been in contact with importers of potentially affected cars, foreign registration offices, including in Germany as well as other Swiss authorities at both the federal and regional leve, the statement said.