Audi Volkswagen Korea, the Korean sales unit of German carmakers Volkswagen AG and Audi AG, received new certifications for three models in Korea, allowing it to resume car sale in the country a year after its cars were completely banned.

According to the automobile industry on Tuesday, the Korean unit gained new licenses for its two sport utility vehicle (SUV) Audi Q7 models - 35 TDI Quattro and 45 TDI Quattro powered by a diesel engine - as well as the gasoline engine-powered Audi R8 model from the Korean Ministry of Environment. This was the first time the company has obtained certifications since the Korean government banned the sale of its cars last year in its strongest-ever punitive action on a single carmaker.

The company has completely suspended its vehicle sale since the Korean government revoked the certifications of 80 models in 32 variants of the two German brands in August last year upon finding that they had fabricated emissions reports to obtain permission to sell their vehicles in Korea.

The Korean unit aims to resume selling flagship vehicle models of the two German car brands and three old models -the 60 TFSI Quattro, RS7 4.0 TFSI Quattro and RS7 Plus - within this year. The three old models earlier passed the recertification test after their licenses were canceled last year due to the forged documents on noise-level tests.

Since the sale ban was imposed, sales of the two German car brands have plunged in Korea. According to an audit report submitted Audi Volkswagen Korea in April to the Financial Supervisory Service, the domestic distributor of the two German brands registered 226.2 billion won ($201 million) in operating loss for full 2016, compared with an operating profit of 47.2 billion won in 2015. Sales more than halved to 1.38 trillion won from 2.81 trillion won over the same period.

But it will likely take some time before the Korean unit can regain ground in the market. The cars granted with new certifications from the environment ministry can be sold after completing the registration of physical characteristics and additional checks for fuel efficiency by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The environment ministry also plans to apply stricter rules in testing Volkswagen’s best-seller Tiguan. “Tiguan was equipped with devices designed to deceive government emission tests, so we have to test it on public roads,” said an unnamed official from the Ministry of Environment.

By Park Chang-young and Boo Jang-won

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]