AstraZeneca has cancelled vehicle orders with Volkswagen Group brands in the wake of the emissions scandal, Fleet News understands.

The company is believed to have suspended orders of Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Seat vehicles worldwide, pending results of Volkswagen Group's investigations into NOx defeat devices on diesel models and CO2 issues around certain vehicles.

The company has around 750 vehicles on its fleet in the UK, and 20,000 worldwide in 70 countries.

The emissions scandal affects 11 million diesel models across the group worldwide, and the company has said that it will take nearly a year to implement fixes to affected vehicles.

Meanwhile, unrelated issues regarding CO2 emission levels being reported incorrectly are said to affect 800,000 vehicles worldwide, across the 15 and 16 model years, also including 1.4 TSI petrol models. 

Fleet News revealed last week how Volkswagen Group brands in the UK - VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat - told fleets they could not currently guarantee the CO2 emissions of certain vehicles. Quoted figures were instead being labelled "provisional", with disclaimers appearing on all of the VW Group manufacturers’ websites.

Volkswagen Group refused to comment about the pharmaceutical company's decision and despite repeated requests for further information from AstraZeneca it has so far not responded.