BMW has been raided by German authorities investigating the luxury car maker over claims it cheated pollution controls.

Prosecutors visited the company’s landmark Munich base as well as a satellite site in Austria in relation to more than 11,000 cars which are thought to have passed emissions tests because they were fitted with software which allowed them to recognise when they were being checked.

These so-called “defeat devices” identify when emissions are being checked and turn on pollution controls in diesel engines which are not employed in normal driving.

This system means cars pump out far higher levels of pollution when on the roads when compared with during testing procedures.

In 2015 Volkswagen admitted that 11m of its cars worldwide were fitted with similar devices, leading to the “dieselgate” scandal which saw the company’s share price crash and led to the German manufacturer paying tens of billions of euros in costs, compensation and fines.