South Korea to impose fines on automakers with low fuel efficiency

South Korea planned to impose fines on automakers, which sell cars with fuel efficiency below standards, the Commerce Ministry said Wednesday. Car manufacturers and importers of foreign vehicles will be fined for automobiles that fail to meet the minimum fuel efficiency of 17 km per liter, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The penalty of 82,352 won (some 76.2 U.S. dollars) will be levied on every 1 km per liter of cars, whose fuel efficiency falls behind the standard. For example, if an automaker sells 100, 000 cars that lack of fuel efficiency by 1 km per liter for the past year, the company should pay more than 8.2 billion won. The current standard of 17 km per liter will be applied until 2015. The minimum fuel efficiency after 2016 will be decided on within this year after consulting with automakers, the ministry said.