FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Audi is recalling around 70,000 of its A3 cars worldwide because of possible clutch faults, the company said on Friday.
A spokesman for Audi, Volkswagen's premium brand, said the affected vehicles had 2.0 litre TDI engines and were built between June 2003 and the end of 2004.
In some cases, the car would make clearly audible sounds and possibly come to a halt.
In Germany, around 20,000 vehicles would have to be recalled to Audi workshops for examination, he added. The company said owners of the affected cars should bring them to a workshop and leave them there for a day.
Audi said it would compensate the owners for any costs. The spokesman declined to comment on how high the costs could be.
Parent company Volkswagen had the same problem last year with some series of its Tuareg and Golf models, a VW spokesman said. The faults had largely been rectified and new problems were not anticipated, he said.
VW and Audi buy some of their parts jointly.