Volkswagen's luxury brand Audi announced on Thursday that is has suspended two engineers who are implicated in the emission test scandal that the company is currently facing.

On Nov. 19, Volkswagen and Audi notified United States authorities that around 85,000 vehicles with V6 3.0-liter engines released in the region were fitted with emission controlling equipment that are capable of cheating emission tests.

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The news spread like wildfire and forced Volkswagen to oust one of its longest serving chief executive. The company was also forced to wipe out more than $21 billion off of its market value due to the scandal.

Audi claims that it has launched an investigation in order to determine whether its employees deliberately manipulated and integrated the emission controlling devices.

Audi acting chairman Berthold Huber said in a statement, "We are surprised and shocked by the emissions news from the U.S. Now the causes for such grave mistakes must be found and eliminated. This has utmost priority."

According to Reuters, the V6 diesel engines were designed and assembled by Audi at its factory located in Neckarsulm, Germany. The engines are widely used in premium models and are integrated in cars bearing the model years 2009 through 2016. Audi claims that the engines found their way into some of its brands including Porsche.

The recent suspension of Audi engineers put the total implicated person to eight, six of which hold senior designations.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Audi chief executive officer Rupert Stadler said that it still is not clear whether the suspended engineers acted knowingly in adding the control devices and whether they had the intent to commit a crime.

Volkswagen and Audi continue to claim that the software installed on the V6 engines are designed to heat the engine in order to enhance the reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions.

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