South Korea's antitrust regulator said on Thursday it would impose a combined fine of 42.3-billion won (R593.3m) on three German carmakers for colluding to rig emissions of its diesel cars using software.
Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi were involved in collusion that reduced competition and restricted consumer choice, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said in a statement.
Mercedes-Benz was fined 20.7-billion won (R290.6m) , BMW 15.7-billion won (R220.5m) and Audi 6-billion won ( R84.2m) , the regulator said, adding that Volkswagen was not fined because it did not earn revenue relevant to the issue.
Last year, Mercedes-Benz and its Korean unit were fined 20.2-billion won (R283.5m) for false advertising tied to gas emissions of diesel passenger vehicles.
The European Commission in 2021 fined Volkswagen and BMW a total of €875m (R16.6bn) for colluding to curb the use of emissions cleaning technology they had developed.
