South Korea may ban BMW, Nissan and Porsche Sales

The importance of intensive vehicle testing and regulations has been highlighted these past few months due to the dieselgate scandal involving Volkswagen. This affected the automotive industry as a whole, including other automakers like Nissan, Porsche, and BMW. Several model releases have been delayed due to more scrutiny. The latest possible effect is in South Korea where the Ministry of Environment is looking to ban a few automakers due to lack of emission testing approval before selling the cars.

Imports of BMW, Nissan, and Porsche may be banned and there is no telling when it can be lifted. There are 7 Porsche cars in question, and only 1 from BMW: the BMW X5 M. There is also a large fine that may be imposed on the automakers.

There will still be an official hearing for the case before a decision will be rolled out in December. BMW intends to clarify and address all issues to prevent the ban.

“We’ll ask the companies to clarify their positions,” said Hon Dong-kon, ministry director, on the other hand. “If their illegalities are confirmed, we will revoke their certifications, ban sales of the affected cars and, if necessary, ask prosecutors to further look into the case.”

This is a very unexpected turn of events for BMW since they just opened their biggest driving center in Asia in South Korea.