German Prosecutors Investigating Audi for Emissions Scandal

They reportedly received multiple criminal complaints that requested an inquiry, including one from Audi, according to Bloomberg.

The prosecutors in Ingolstadt want to focus on people within the automaker that are responsible for emissions. However, the investigation is still too early in the process to identify any specific suspects. The German lawyers might also eventually combine their cases, but they remain separate for now. "Braunschweig took those parts that are clearly located at Volkswagen and asked us to keep the elements limited to Audi," a spokesperson for the Ingolstadt attorneys told Bloomberg.

Audi has 2.1 million vehicles worldwide with Volkswagen Group's emissions-cheating four-cylinder diesel, including an estimated 13,000-14,000 of them in the US. The Environmental Protection Agency also recently filed a second violation notice against the 3.0-liter TDI V6 that was used in several of the company's models here, and the automaker responded with a stop sale for them.

VW Group's carbon-dioxide emissions cheating in Europe also reportedly involves some Audi models. In that case, engineers admitted to artificially improving test results to achieve the cuts that the automaker requested.