The Korean government has imposed fines on four foreign automakers, including German automaker Audi and Chrysler of the United States, for inflating the fuel efficiency of their vehicles sold here, an official said Wednesday.
“The government imposed a fine of between 3 million won and 4 million won ($2,720-$3,630) late last year on the four automakers,” an official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy told Yonhap.
The four automakers include Germany’s Volkswagen and BMW.
The fines are based on the outcome of a 2013 test, in which one vehicle model from each of the four automakers failed to meet their self-claimed fuel mileage.
The vehicles are the Audi A4 2.0 TDI, the Tiguan 2.0 TDI of Volkswagen, the Jeep Grand Cherokee of Chrysler and the BMW MINI Cooper Countryman.
The fuel efficiency of the four vehicles was at least 5 percent less than what their manufacturers had claimed, according to the ministry official who asked not to be identified.
By regulation, the amount of fines for exaggerating mileage is 0.001 percent of the vehicle‘s local sales. (Yonhap)
