Audi owners living in Europe and other markets outside of the United States and Canada can have their EU5 and EU6 diesel cars updated through a retrofit program targeting six-cylinder and eight-cylinder TDI engines.

A total of 850,000 cars should receive this new software, which in turn will improve emissions in real driving conditions beyond the current legal requirements.

This initiative was put together in consultation with Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) and it also applies to Porsche and VW models equipped with the same engines.

Audi’s main goal is to maintain the future viability of diesel engines, while also contributing towards improving air quality and counteract any possible future bans on vehicles with diesel engines.

While the software package consists mostly of voluntary measures, Audi knows that if ongoing investigations by the KBA result in further consequences, any required technical solutions can and will be quickly implemented.

Last month, allegations surfaced stating that Audi had cheated on emissions tests for nearly 24,000 A7 and A8 models. These were denied by the automaker, who stated that those vehicles’ excessive emissions were due to an issue with the transmission software.

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