Nissan Planning to File Administrative Litigation against Korean Government

The South Korean government told Nissan Korea to stop selling the Qashqai SUV with regard to allegations of exhaust manipulation. The Asahi Shimbun reported on June 8 that the Nissan headquarters is looking to file an administrative litigation in response.

The Nissan HQ released an official statement in the night of June 7, claiming that the Qashqai that is being sold in the South Korean market is in compliance with both the Euro 6 emissions standard and the South Korean government’s exhaust gas emissions regulations and the company has never tampered with its exhaust systems. “We will file a complaint against the Ministry of Environment of South Korea in relation to this issue and file an administrative litigation in a case where the complaint is not accepted,” it added, continuing, “We will also file a suit to nullify the penalty payment order once we are proven to be innocent.”

On June 7, the Ministry of Environment imposed a penalty of 340 million won on Nissan Korea for the allegations and brought criminal charges against Nissan Korea president Takehiko Kikuchi. In addition, the ministry issued a recall order for the 824 Qashqais already sold in South Korea while telling Nissan Korea to stop selling the model.

The ministry called it into question on May 16, saying that the operation of its exhaust gas reduction system is halted even in general driving conditions and this is to pretend that it has a higher level of fuel economy than it actually has. According to the ministry, the Qashqai’s exhaust gas reduction system was turned off once the vehicle’s engine temperature exceeds 35 degrees Celsius after 30-minute driving in its experiment whereas the same systems of the other vehicles it tested remained in operation even after the temperature in the vicinity of the engines rose to 50 degrees Celsius or so.