Nissan Korea, the local unit of the Japanese automaker, will soon face a class-action suit over the emissions fraud claim on its Qashqai compact crossovers.

Local law firm Barun said Monday it is preparing a class-action suit against Nissan Korea by gathering all the Qashqai owners.

“As of now, we have five people for the suit. The number (of people) is yet small due to the relatively small sales of the Qashqai units, but it can still go up,” Barun lawyer Ha Jong-sun told The Korea Herald by phone.

The suit would call for the automaker to refund customers’ cars and compensate for the price drop of the vehicle due to the emissions fraud suspicion, Ha said.

The move comes after the Ministry of Environment announced Monday that Nissan Korea’s Qashqai model was found to have a manipulated emissions system.

“We think the chance to win the lawsuit is high since the ministry views the automaker intentionally manipulated the emissions,” Ha said.

The ministry plans to order a recall of about 813 Nissan vehicles sold here, suspend sales, and levy 330 million won ($280,000) in fines on Nissan Korea.

Nissan Korea has denied the suspicion of the emissions fraud.

By Hong Sung-pyo (hong1@heraldcorp.com)