BMW, Mercedes, Porsche fined 70 bln won for false emissions reports

The local units of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche have been fined a combined 70.3 billion won (US$63.1 million) for falsifying reports on the emissions levels of their vehicles sold here, the environment ministry said Thursday.

The three foreign automakers were found to have forged documents regarding tests on the exhaust control of emissions and submitted them to the government for sales approval between 2010 and 2015, according to the Ministry of Environment.

BMW will face a penalty of some 60.8 billion won, while Mercedes and Porsche can expect fines of 2.9 billion won and 7.8 billion won to be levied, respectively.

Along with the penalty, the government will cancel authentications that certify their fuel efficiency and emissions and ban the sales of these models.

But no measures will be taken on or applied to the vehicles that have already been sold or those who own them, it added.

The ministry's probe found that BMW submited fales emissions data of 28 models, or 81,483 vehicles. It either modified or underrated the test results to meet regulations.

The ministry also discovered that all three brands had sold cars installed with different parts from the ones that they said had been used. (Yonhap)