FILE PHOTO: The Audi booth displays the company logo at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. January 16, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's transport ministry confirmed a media report on Monday that the KBA automotive watchdog detected illicit emission-control software in Audi's NSUG.DE latest Euro-6 diesel models and ordered a recall of the vehicles.

Some 127,000 vehicles from Audi, a unit of Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE, are affected worldwide including 77,600 vehicles are registered in Germany, a spokeswoman for the German transport ministry said during a regular news conference.

Newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported that road transport authority KBA had told Audi to respond by Feb. 2 on how it plans to update vehicle software controlling emissions, making sure the cars are unable to illegally manipulate emission controls.

Audi said in a statement on Sunday that the models had been included in a voluntary recall of 850,000 diesel vehicles with V6 and V8 TDI engines announced in July.