AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/09 Report--

On Feb. 9, South Korea's Fair Trade Commission announced that Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi had conspired to manipulate diesel emissions and decided to impose a total penalty of 42.3 billion won (227 million yuan) on the four German automakers.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said these companies used software to reduce urea solution consumption in their diesel vehicles in the process of developing selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology. According to environmental regulations, diesel vehicles must be equipped with SCR devices to reduce nitrogen oxides emitted by diesel engines. South Korea's Fair Trade Commission says nitrogen oxides are toxic gases that can cause respiratory and lung diseases. The agency said the four companies decided to let their cars drive a certain distance without adding urea solution, despite concerns that this could lead to excessive emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Back in 2015, Volkswagen added a failure protector to the 2.0TDI diesel engine in order to pass the EPA emission test, and designed a software mechanism: if the device detects that it is currently in a laboratory environment, it will turn on the exhaust purification device, but if it is detected that it is driving normally outside, it will choose to turn off the exhaust purification device. In other words, Volkswagen cars will obviously emit emissions when they are on the road, but under laboratory tests, there is no problem with the test results, which quickly attracted the attention of local consumers and institutions.

On September 18, 2015, relevant departments in the United States revealed that some of Volkswagen's products were falsified by software control in their emission tests in the United States. a total of about 482000 diesel vehicles were affected, and the vehicles suspected of cheating were loaded with 2.0TDI diesel engines produced by Volkswagen Group, including 2009-2015 Jetta, Beatles, Golf and Audi A3, and 2014-15 Passat were sold in North America. According to regulations, the maximum fine for violating the Clean Air Act is $37500 per car, while Volkswagen's involvement of 482000 vehicles in the United States means a fine of up to $18 billion.

Following the accident in the US market, more than 10 countries, including Japan, Mexico, Canada, Italy, India, France, Britain, South Korea, Norway and Australia, investigated the emissions of Volkswagen's models. On September 24, Volkswagen Group in China's Shanghai Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen issued a statement on the same day that the emission gate had nothing to do with the Chinese market.

On September 28th, Volkswagen announced that the "Emission Gate" involves a total of about 11 million vehicles worldwide, including 5 million under the Volkswagen brand, 2.1 million by Audi, 1.2 million by Skoda, 700000 by Seattle and 1.8 million by Volkswagen light commercial vehicles, all of which are equipped with EA189 diesel engines made by Volkswagen.

After the exposure of the Volkswagen "diesel emission door" incident, Volkswagen diesel vehicles were investigated in more than a dozen countries, including Germany, Britain, South Korea, India, South Korea, and so on, resulting in a loss of more than 32 billion euros in fines and laws. Of course, the impact of the "diesel emission door" incident on Volkswagen does not stop there. In addition to huge compensation and legal proceedings, the collapse of consumer trust in Volkswagen, the sharp decline of Volkswagen in the capital market, and the successive dismissal of the group's senior management have dealt a heavy blow to the group.

It is worth mentioning that Volkswagen is not "alone". After the Volkswagen "diesel door" incident, a new test by the German Association of Automobile drivers (Adac) shows that diesel vehicles from more automakers such as Renault, Nissan, Hyundai, Citroen, Fiat, Volvo, Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot also have excessive emissions. In June, companies such as Peugeot and Citroen, owned by the Stellantis Group, are under investigation by the French government for allegedly defrauding consumers over emissions from some diesel models. On the same day, Renault Group also announced that it was also investigated by French prosecutors for diesel vehicle emissions, but denied the existence of relevant violations in the announcement. The new round of fines imposed by South Korea's Fair Trade Commission on Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi is also the latest development in the "diesel emission door" incident, which will be paid by relevant companies in the future.

There is a view that the "diesel door" incident can be seen as an initial sign that governments are beginning to resolve to promote new energy models such as batteries and hydrogen energy, while BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have all begun to vigorously promote electric vehicles. It is also largely a response to the stimulation of diesel doors, although to some extent this means higher costs, but investing in the future is better than investing in technologies of the past.

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