Porsche halts sales of Cayenne diesel cars in N. America

The North American subsidiary of Porsche said Tuesday it would discontinue sales of model year 2014 through 2016 Cayenne Diesel vehicles.

Porsche said its decision came after the US Environmental Protection Agency accused Volkswagen on Monday of fitting illegal "defeat devices" not only on its smaller engines, but also into various six-cylinder 3.0 liter diesel VW Touareg, Porsche Cayenne and Audis.

Porsche is a unit of VW.

"Porsche Cars North America, Inc. today decided, in view of the unexpected US EPA notice received yesterday, to voluntarily discontinue sales of model year 2014 through 2016 Porsche Cayenne Diesel vehicles until further notice," the company said in a statement.

"We are working intensively to resolve this matter as soon as possible. Customers may continue to operate their vehicles normally."

The carmaker did not say whether software had been installed on the cars to cheat pollution tests.

Volkswagen has vowed to cooperate fully with the EPA.

Porsche had denied also the allegations, insisting that "all of our information was that the Porsche Cayenne Diesel is fully compliant."