[Photo by Namkung Jinwoong = timeid@ajunews.com]
The South Korean branch of German car giant Audi Volkswagen was slapped with a record fine of 31.8 million US dollars for falsely advertising that its cars were eco-friendly, South Korea's anti-trust watchdog said Wednesday.
The Fair Trade Commission fined Volkswagen some 37.2 billion won ($31.8 million) for advertising that its vehicles were "in some ways better than hybrid cars in energy efficiency and more eco-friendly". It was the greatest fine of its kind ever imposed by the commission.
The German company was accused of claiming its products had met US emissions requirements and showed "great on-road performances". The watchdog said Volkswagen deceived consumers with false and exaggerated ads and covered up its fabrication.
An earlier investigation by state prosecutors showed that Volkswagen had illegally changed parts to fabricate emissions tests. The environment ministry has banned sales of Volkswagen's 80 variants of 32 car types sold in South Korea between 2009 and July 25 this year.
The Germany company 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. A Volkswagen executive in South Korea has been arrested for forging reports and importing cars without getting proper certification.
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
