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The Korea Herald
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THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Automobiles

Audi halts car sales in Korea

  • PUBLISHED :March 09, 2017 - 16:45
  • UPDATED :March 09, 2017 - 16:45
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[THE INVESTOR] Audi Volkswagen Korea has stopped selling all Audi vehicles here beginning March, claiming it is reexamining all the legal documents of vehicles to prevent another emissions-rigging scandal.

The decision was made by the newly appointed co-Managing Director Marcus Hellmann, who was in charge of dealing with the Volkswagen scandal at the head office in Germany, the company said. 


Audi A7



The local unit of the German automaker has told its dealers to stop taking orders of all vehicles for now until the review is completed. The affected cars are about 15 models, including A4, A6 and A7, among others, that were not subject to the government’s sales ban last year.

“The review is being conducted to make sure a similar problem doesn’t occur again,” a spokesperson from Audi Volkswagen Korea told The Investor, without revealing when the automaker will resume sales. “The cars are not problematic. We are just trying to reexamine the vehicles and their related documents.”

The sales discontinuation is hurting Audi dealers, who have already lost customers in the aftermath of the scandal last year.

Last month, Audi, once a very popular luxury car brand here, sold only 360 units, down 63.4 percent from a year earlier.

Audi Volkswagen Korea said it has provided supportive measures and compensation to the dealers for the loss incurred due to the scandal, and plans to resume sales as soon as possible.

In August last year, the Environment Ministry revoked certification and halted sales of 80 models of Audi, VW and Bentley vehicles, in addition to imposing hefty fines on the automaker for manipulating emissions and noise level tests to win sales approval. About 60 percent of Audi cars have stopped sales since then.

The automaker said it is working with government officials to get the affected cars recertified to resume sales.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)

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