Germany orders recall of 30,000 Porsche cars

Authorities in Germany have ordered car manufacturer Porsche to recall some 30,000 vehicles after it was discovered that the Cayenne 3-liter TDI model contained illegal software used to emissions results during testing.

German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Thursday that authorities would be ordering a recall. Around 7,500 affected vehicles are registered in Germany and around 22,000 across Europe.

Dobrindt said that German authorities had carried out tests during which they had found so-called defeat device software, which is used to disguise the real extent of emissions released by the car.

The discovery comes less than two years after another German car manufacturer Volkswagen admitted to installing defeat devices in as many as 11 million diesel cars since 2008.