Volkswagen Australia and its luxury arm, Audi, will launch a massive recall of more than 90,000 local cars affected in its global emissions-cheating rort.

The local brands announced the move after Volkswagen admitted earlier this week Australian diesel vehicles were carrying software devices that tampered with the car’s emissions controls.

It confirmed the existence of “defeat devices” in the engines of 77,149 Volkswagens sold between 2008 and 2015, and in 14,028 Audi cars in the country.

Volkswagen Australia said it had run its action plan by government authorities and would write to affected customers to let them know what steps to take next.

“The necessary measures will be undertaken at no cost to them [the customers],” Volkswagen Group Australia’s managing director John White said.

The recall is part of the German auto giant’s plans to recall and refit the engines of up to five million affected cars worldwide.

The car giant has set up a website for local customers to enter the VIN number of their vehicles to see if they are among those affected.

In a statement on Friday, the company also apologised for “any disappointment and inconvenience felt by our customers, staff, dealers and partners”.

“We will do everything we can to fix this problem and regain the trust of our customers,” White said.

Both Volkswagen and Audi have reassured customers the affected cars are still technically safe to drive.

The companies are facing potential consumer class action from law firm Maurice Blackburn which said on Friday it had registered interest from more than 2,500 potential litigants.

Volkswagen is also being investigated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for violating consumer and safety standards.

