Switzerland has banned sales of Volkswagen Group cars with outdated emissions systems in the wake of the test-rigging scandal that started in the US.

Thomas Rohrbach, spokesman for the Swiss federal office of roadways, said the ban applied to all cars with diesel engines in the Euro 5 emissions category. It includes all VW models as well as Seat, Skoda and others in the VW group.

The ban affects only cars not yet sold or registered, not ones already in circulation. It doesn’t apply to cars now in production with Euro 6 engines, which are not affected by the scandal. Mr Rohrbach said the ban could potentially affect 180,000 vehicles that have 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0-litre diesel engines.

Volkswagen has said the 11 million vehicles worldwide that contain software involved in the emissions-rigging scandal include some five million cars made by its core VW brand.

The Volkswagen Group includes 12 brands, and the German company has yet to detail fully what cars were involved.