The raid of Volkwagen's luxury division plants was reportedly done to find employees who were involved in the use of the "defeat device" used in 80,000 VW, Audi and Porsche cars with 3.0-liter engines, according to the report.
Reuters reports that German police searched two Audi plants, and other sites, Wednesday, March 15 in connection to Volkswagen's ongoing emissions scandal.
The raid of Volkswagen's luxury division plants was reportedly done to find employees who were involved in the use of the "defeat device" used in 80,000 VW, Audi and Porsche cars with 3.0-liter engines, according to the report.
All of this was going on while Audi CEO Rupert Stadler addressed reporters during the luxury division's Wednesday morning report on its 2016 earnings.
VW has admitted to using software, known as a defeat device, in the 2009-2015 Audi A3 and the Volkswagen Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat TDI cars with 2.0-liter diesel engines to trick emissions tests. About 482,000 were sold in the U.S., and 11 million were sold globally.
The VW cars with 2-liter diesels would meet emissions standards tests in a laboratory or testing station, but in normal operation, they emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard, according to the EPA. The company also admitted to using the software in some of its vehicles with 3.0-liter diesel engines
Buildings searched included VW's Wolfsburg offices, Audi's Ingolstadr and Neckarsulm plants, its two biggest, and six other sites, Reuters reports.
An investigator, left, stands with cartons in front of the Audi headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany, Wednesday, March 15, 2017. German authorities searched the offices of luxury automaker Audi on Wednesday in connection with the scandal over cheating on diesel emissions by its parent company, Volkswagen. (Armin Weigel/dpa via AP) "With these search orders we aim to clarify in particular who was involved in deploying the technology concerned and in the provision of false information to third parties," the Munich prosecutor's office said, according to the report.
This news follows another week of Volkswagen-related headlines, as CEO Matthias Mueller said he is "not ruling out a conversation" about a merger between the German automaker and Fiat Chrysler.
On Friday in Detroit, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice as a result of its long-winding emissions scandal. The automaker schemed to get around U.S. pollution regulations on upwards of 500,000 diesel vehicles.
VW has agreed to pay a reported $4.3 billion in penalties, with the total cost including the automaker's pledge to repair or buy back cheating diesels around $21 billion.
Once a buyback is complete, Volkswagen transports the vehicle from the dealership to one of its regional storage facilities like the Pontiac Silverdome in Metro Detroit. Once in storage, VW said it will regularly maintain the vehicles until an "approved emissions modification" takes place. The German automaker reports that vehicles not approved for emissions modification will be recycled.
A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the number of vehicles at the Silverdome in late January, or on locations of other storage locations. Jalopnik reports VW has regional storage facilities at the decommissioned Norton Air Force Base in California, the Port of Baltimore and the Silverdome in Pontiac.