The European Commission has called on all 28 EU member states to carry out investigations to establish if false emission claims have been made in Europe.

"We are inviting all member states to carry out investigations at the national level," European Commission spokesperson, Lucia Caudet said.

"We need to have the full picture whether and how many vehicles certified in the EU were equipped with defeat devices," she continued.

The Commission is also calling for a review of vehicle testing in Europe.

Alexander Dobrindt, the German transport minister said: "We have been informed that also in Europe, vehicles with 1.6 and 2.0 litre diesel engines are affected by the manipulations that are being talked about," adding it is unclear how many vehicles in Europe were affected.

Mr Dobrindt said random tests would be carried out on cars made by other manufacturers. Bloomberg quotes reports from Germany which say that a diesel version of the BMW X3 sport emitted 11 times the European limit for air pollution in a road test.

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A spokesperson said that BMW isn’t aware of these test results cited, adding: “There is no difference in the treatment of exhaust emissions whether they are on (test) rollers or on the road."

VW has not responded to Mr Dobrindt's claims.

The controversy is centred on "defeat devices" it used to fool US emissions tests on diesel cars into believing the vehicles met environmental standards.

The company admits the software, which switches engines to a cleaner mode during official testing, may have been fitted in 11 million of its vehicles worldwide.