SEOUL, Sept 10 (Askume) – South Korea’s anti-competition watchdog has launched an investigation into a local unit of Mercedes-Benz, a Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) official said on Tuesday, without giving further details.
The investigation is into a fire involving a Mercedes-Benz electric car in Incheon on Aug. 1.
Mercedes-Benz Korea declined to comment on the matter. The company previously said it was cooperating with authorities to determine the cause of the fire and plans to provide free inspections to electric vehicle owners.
The Korea Economic Daily, which first reported the probe, said regulators would investigate whether the company misled consumers about its car battery suppliers.
The battery that caught fire in the Mercedes EQE vehicle was provided by China’s Farasis Energy (688567.SS) .
In 2022, Mercedes-Benz executives said in an interview with Korean media that China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (300750.SZ), one of the world’s leading battery companies, will supply batteries for its EQE electric vehicle.
Mercedes Korea revealed in August this year that three of its four EQE models use Farasis batteries, while the EQE 300 model uses CATL batteries.
