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German prosecutors seized and searched the local office of Hyundai and Kia on charges of illegally manipulating diesel vehicle exhaust gas.
The charges are similar to those of other automakers that were previously investigated, but it was confirmed that Hyundai Motor is still using the parts and software in question.
This is reporter Jang Hoon-kyung.
[Reporter] The
Frankfurt Prosecutor's Office said that they had searched and searched eight offices of Hyundai and Kia Motors in Germany and Luxembourg.
The investigation has begun on charges of distributing about 210,000 diesel vehicles with illegal exhaust gas manipulation devices by 2020.
However, it has been confirmed that Hyundai Motor is using the problematic parts and software in vehicles currently being produced in addition to the products distributed by 2020 as revealed by the German prosecutors.
The parts and software are supplied from two overseas companies, and they have not had any problems so far, so they continue to use them.
In 2015, the so-called 'diesel gate' exploded after the Audi Volkswagen Group installed an exhaust gas reduction control device on 11 million diesel cars sold worldwide.
Since then, investigations into diesel vehicles have continued not only in European countries but also in Korea, but there has never been a confirmed case of tampering with Hyundai and Kia vehicles.
For this reason, there are also pointed out that it is an investigation to check the Hyundai Motor Group.
[Pilsu Kim/Professor, Department of Automobile, Daelim University: The status of Hyundai Motor Group entering the European market is moving very quickly.
There are parts that are based on electric vehicles, but there are parts about checks.]
However, German automakers such as Mercedes-Benz Korea have also been punished in Korea for exhaust gas manipulation. Of course, the fine is expected to take a significant hit to the expansion of the market.
(Video editing: Jinwon Kim, VJ: Youngsam Jeong)