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80 Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley models banned in South Korea

South Korean authorities have revoked the certification of, and recalled, 80 Volkswagen, Audi and Bentley models currently or previously on-sale due to falsified emissions and noise test data.


An executive of Audi Volkswagen South Korea has already been charged with falsifying 140 documents related to emissions and noise certification.

Hong Dong-Gon, director of environmental transportation, told a press conference that "as a result of last week's hearing, we've decided to revoke the certification of 32 types and 80 models as of today".

Affected models include both petrol and diesel powered cars. This latest set back has trimmed the Volkswagen range in South Korea to just the Touareg 3.0-litre V6 TDI and CC 2.0-litre TSI.

Audi's lineup has been cut by about half, although each major model line still has some variants on sale.

The company had already voluntarily stopped the sale of many of its models on July 25 ahead of the government's decision, and it will need to reapply for certification for these cars. The recertification process could take longer than the usual three months.

In total 208,500 Volkswagen Group vehicles have been decertified and recalled by South Korean authorities since November last year. That equates to 68 per cent of all sold by the company in South Korea since 2007.

The government has also fined the German car maker 17.8 billion won ($21 million) on top of the 14.1 billion won ($17 million) it levied in November 2015.

In a statement posted up on its South Korean website, Volkswagen said that it would like to "deeply apologise for the inconvenience [caused by] this incident".

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