[Yonhap News Photo]
South Korea cancelled the registration of 83,000 cars sold by the local branch of German auto giant Volkswagen Tuesday along with a sales ban on 32 models for obtaining government permission with fabricated documents.
Audi Volkswagen Korea was found to have presented fake reports on the level of noise, fuel efficiency and emissions results, the Environment Ministry said. The move affected 80 variants of 32 car types sold in South Korea between 2009 and July 25 this year.
With Tuesday's action, the registration of 209,000 Audi and Volkswagen vehicles has been cancelled so far. The company has sold more than 300,000 cars in South Korea from 2007.
Separately, Audi Volkswagen Korea was slapped with a fine of 17.8 billion won (16 million US dollars), but drivers will be allowed to sell vehicles without restrictions.
In a statement posted on its homepage, the company apologized and vowed to solve its problems at an early date for the resumption of sales. "We will do our best to regain confidence from clients, dealers and contractors."
The company said it would take legal and other steps to get government permission again, describing South Korea as a "very important" market.
Volkswagen has been punished with a flurry of legal actions in South Korea and other countries after it admitted in September last year to falsifying US emissions tests on some of its diesel cars.
In November last year, South Korea cancelled the registration of 126,000 vehicles sold by the German company.
A Volkswagen executive has been arrested and indicted for forging reports and importing cars without getting proper certification.
The Volkswagen case triggered an intensive safety check into imported cars, leading to a fall in the number of all foreign cars sold in South Korea. Volkswagen saw a 33 percent drop in first-half sales.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
