The cheating scandal involving German automaker Volkswagen should teach Korean government officials and consumers precious lessons.
First, the case centering around the carmaker’s deceit on the levels of noise, emissions and fuel efficiency of its products tells us that we should not have blind faith in any top brand -- be it its technology or honesty. Businesses will do whatever it takes to make money, and we should never completely trust what they say.
The initial shock from the scandal was greater because it came from a global company from Germany, a country that boasts manufacturing prowess and a relatively high level of integrity.
Volkswagen, along with its affiliate Audi, had also been a respected brand in the global car market, where it led the expansion of diesel vehicles, starting with the European market. It turned out that much of what diesel carmakers had said about the improvement of their technologies -- especially regarding fuel efficiency and emissions -- was not true.
This should be a painful lesson for Korea as diesel cars -- both local and imported -- have been adopted rapidly in the local market, a result of carmakers, government officials and consumers’ rash moves to follow what turned out to be a myth.
Another lesson Korea should take from the Volkswagen scandal is that Korean regulators and consumers tend to be lax in their scrutiny of foreign firms. The German automaker is not the only foreign firm currently mired in problems with their products here.
British company Reckitt Benckiser has caused a big stir by selling toxic disinfectants for humidifiers. Swedish furniture company Ikea faced public criticism for continuing to sell chests and dressers it had withdrawn from the North American market due to the danger of tip-overs.
There are common problems with these companies: They don’t, or are reluctant to, accept responsibility and refrain from taking appropriate follow-up measures like recalls or offering compensation. There have been some obvious cases in which foreign firms did not take Korean officials and consumers as seriously as they did those in other countries.
This calls upon government regulators and consumers to find out what the problems are and address them. Korea believes in free trade and an open economy, and thus should not discriminate against foreign businesses. But this should not mean that foreign firms could be given favors or loopholes.
Indeed, the Volkswagen scandal exposed big loopholes in certifying imported cars. The loopholes were so big that Audi Volkswagen Korea could cheat on the noise and emission levels of as many as 80 models in the country.
As a result, the Environment Ministry revoked the certification of about 209,000 Audi and Volkswagen vehicles, which account for 68 percent of cars sold by the German carmaker in Korea since 2007. In other words, almost 7 in 10 Volkswagen and Audi vehicles running on the road in Korea no longer have legal certification.
Ministry officials said Volkswagen officials faked emissions and noise test results for the models in question. For instance, they forged a Germany-based test report for the Audi A6 model and presented it as one for the Audi A7 model. It’s absolutely galling to find that the test report submitted to the Korean government for the Volkswagen Golf model was actually that of the Audi A3!
This shows the Korean government’s certification system was useless -- for which the Environment Ministry is primarily to blame. No wonder the carmaker’s habitual cheating could not come to light without investigation by prosecutors.
Environment Ministry officials said that typically 3 percent of samples are put to tests when an imported car model goes through the certification process. We doubt even that portion was tested properly.
The Volkswagen scam leads us to suspect that officials were corrupt or negligent, the certification system is dotted with faults -- or both. The best way to deal with things like this is for the Board of Audit and Inspection to conduct a massive examination of the imported car certification regime.
