In South Korea, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche are threatening fines of 55 million euros. The Ministry of the Environment in Seoul accuses the companies of violating exhaust gas regulations. BMW admits “irregularities”.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Porsche dealership in Seoul
Thursday, 09.11.2017
16:50
South Korea wants to impose fines on the German automakers BMW, Mercedes and Porsche in the amount of 55 million euros. The companies had violated between 2011 and 2016 against exhaust gas requirements, said the Ministry of the Environment in Seoul on Thursday with.
BMW thus threatened with 60.8 billion won (47 million euros) the highest punishment. The Munich-based carmaker is accused of falsifying the emissions test reports in more than 80,000 vehicles. In addition, BMW should have imported and sold around 8,000 cars with unauthorized components for exhaust control. It is about 28 models that were sold in the country between 2012 and 2015. Fuel efficiency certificates are expected to be withdrawn by the middle of this month.
BMW suspends sale
The Munich-based company announced that it would voluntarily suspend the sale of seven model variants in South Korea. Reason for this were “irregularities in registration documents.” It’s not about technology issues, and the topic is limited to South Korea.
Mercedes must expect a fine of 7.8 billion won (six million euros). This involves 21 models and more than 8200 cars with allegedly unauthorized parts. Porsche threatened for the same reason, according to company information about 1.3 million euros penalty, the charges revolve around 787 cars.
According to the Association of Korean Automobile Importers and Dealers (KAIDA), Mercedes-Benz was clearly ahead of the field in the registration of imported cars in the first nine months of 2017 with more than 54,000 vehicles. Behind came BMW with 41,590 registrations before the Toyota Lexus brand with 9275th