S Korea Fines Nissan, BMW, Porsche for Fabricated Certification Documents

The South Korean government on Monday revoked vehicle certifications and slapped fines on the three foreign automakers of Nissan, BMW and Porsche for fabricating reports to win sales approval from the local authorities, Yonhap news agency reported.

    The country's Ministry of Environment said it imposed a total of $5.93 million in fines on the local units of the three carmakers after detecting defects in the certification documents for ten models.

    Nissan Korea Co. is accused of submitting reports from Mercedes Benz for its Infinity Q50 and others made by Renault for its Qashqai model, while BMW has submitted vehicle test results from the X6M model for its X5M model, the ministry said. BMW though said that some of the X6M's test results "were included as the two models have the same engine and are under the same certification number," the ministry said.

    As for Porsche, the German automaker is accused of modifying emissions test results, the ministry said, adding that the company voluntarily reported the defects in its certification documents to the ministry and the prosecution over the course of their investigation.

    The South Korean government has since asked prosecutors to formally probe the local unit of Nissan but opted not to seek an official investigation into the other two automakers, taking into account that BMW's violation was minor and Porsche voluntarily reported the certification irregularities.

Source: QNA