German carmaker Audi said Friday it was recalling 73,000 of its A3 range because of clutch problems, reported Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa). A company spokesman said the recall applied to the 2.0 TDI version manufactured between mid-2003 and the end of 2004. A faulty component in the clutch mechanism meant that in extreme cases the driver would not be able to change gear and the vehicle could grind to a halt. The spokesman said all vehicles would be inspected, but not all would need replacement parts. The company has two suppliers for the clutch part and only one delivered the faulty component. The spokesman declined to specify how much the recall action would cost the company, which is a subsidiary of Volkswagen. --SP 23 09 Local Time 20 09 GMT
