Citing a complaint filed on Tuesday in New Jersey federal court, the report said drivers of "tens of thousands" of X5 and 335D model diesel cars built between 2009 and 2011 sued BMW and its technology supplier, alleging they installed algorithms designed to manipulate testing systems.

BMW had no immediate comment.

Its shares were last up 0.7 percent, underperforming the broader autos <.SXAP> index which was rising 1.2 percent.

(Reporting by Helen Reid, editing by Danilo Masoni)