South Korea is to ban sales of some cars made by Porsche, BMW and Nissan, and fine the companies as a probe into emissions documentation widens.
Seoul began investigating environmental certification on imported cars after Volkswagen last year admitted to installing emissions cheating software in about 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide.
The so-called defeat devices could detect when a vehicle was undergoing tests and lowered tailpipe fumes accordingly to make the cars seem less polluting than they were.
The South Korean government on Tuesday said it had found certification errors in 10 models sold across the nation — two from Nissan, one BMW and seven Porsche — and would slap a combined 6.5 billion won (US$5.6 million) fine on the firms.
“We will allow Nissan and BMW to clarify their positions through a hearing and file a legal complaint if irregularities are confirmed,” said Hong Dong-kon, a South Korean Ministry of Environmental Affairs official in charge of vehicular environmental standards.
Porsche already admitted its errors with the certification documents and has stopped selling four of the seven affected models, Hong said.
In August, the ministry banned the sale of 80 Volkswagen models and fined the company US$16 million for forged documentation on engine noise levels, fuel efficiency and emissions.
The scandal has taken its toll on Volkswagen’s reputation in the country, with its sales in South Korea plunging 33 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier.
Foreign automakers, especially German brands like Volkswagen, have steadily expanded their presence in the South’s auto market, long dominated by local giant Hyundai and its affiliate Kia.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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