Volkswagen Group and its local unit in South Korea are facing another lawsuit for manipulating the emissions of some of its 3-liter diesel models, a local law firm said Wednesday.

Customers have already filed class-action suits against the German carmaker’s 2-liter diesel models whose emissions results were proved to be faked by using a so-called defeat device.

“There are many customers making inquiries (on a possible suit) about the 3-liter models also involved in the emissions manipulation,” said Ha Jong-sun, a lawyer of local law firm Barun. “We have decided to file a class-action suit in cooperation with the customers who purchased the cars in question.”


Barun is currently representing about 4,200 customers owning the 2-liter models.

The new suit will likely be filed with a local court in Seoul to demand a cancellation of purchase contracts and refunds. Volkswagen Group, its local unit and dealers will be subject to the legal action, the law firm said.

Vehicles found in the U.S. to have faked emissions through the engine electronic control unit are the A6, A7, A8, Q5 and Q7 that were produced from 2009-2016, along with the Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg.

Some market estimates put the number of cars of the same models sold in South Korea at 50,000-100,000.

On Tuesday, the Environment Ministry here asked the prosecution to investigate the head of the local unit of Volkswagen for failing to provide sufficient data related to its recall plan for around 125,000 emissions-cheating vehicles.

In November, the ministry ordered Volkswagen Korea to recall the vehicles whose emissions were found to have been manipulated through the defeat device.

Complaints have been growing among South Korean customers as Volkswagen has not provided any compensation for them despite offering around $1,000 worth of vouchers and other benefits to consumer in the U.S. and Canada.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)