YOKOHAMA (dpa-AFX) - South Korean government plans to ban sales of certain cars made by German auto makers BMW AG and Porsche AG, as well as Japan's Nissan Motor Co., for alleged fabrication of environmental certification documents, reports said Tuesday, citing Seoul's environment ministry.
The ministry would also fine the local units of these companies a combined 6.5 billion Won or $5.6 million after it found the companies manipulated documents to make their vehicles road worthy.
The certification errors were found in 10 models, including seven from Porsche, two from Nissan, one BMW model, totaling some 4,350 cars. Porsche has already discontinued four of the seven models, the ministry said. These foreign car models include the Infiniti Q50 sedan and Qashqai sport-utility vehicles from Nissan, BMW's X5M SUV and Porsche's Macan S diesel cars.
These three automakers are alleged to have submitted documents that had been used already for similar models to get fast government approval for the new cars.
Hong Dong-kon, ministry director, said, 'We'll give the companies until the middle of next month to clarify their positions. After that, the government plans to revoke the certifications, ban sales of their cars and ask prosecutors to further investigate the case.'
The move follows widened investigation by the ministry since August, after banning the sale of almost all Volkswagen AG cars in the country following the scandal over VW's emissions.
Meanwhile, a BMW spokesman reportedly said that the company was in discussions with the environment ministry to clarify and address the issue. Nissan is said to have voluntarily stopped sales of the Infiniti Q50 following the fault in the paperwork submitted for the certification.
In August, the Government canceled the certification of Volkswagen's 83,000 vehicles and fined 17.8 billion Won. Earlier this year, the country had fined Nissan 330 million Won and filed a criminal complaint for allegedly manipulating emissions tests.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX