FTC’s regulatory push clouds Mercedes-Benz Korea’s EV prospects

Mercedes-Benz Korea faces another major regulatory risk in its electric vehicle (EV) business, as the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) is on the verge of slapping sanctions on the carmaker for advertising allegedly deceptive battery information. The investigation was the result of a controversy dating back to August last year, after one of the carmaker’s EQE electric sedans caught fire in the underground parking lot of an apartment complex in Incheon. The fire caused significant damage to the facility and to hundreds of vehicles parked nearby. Last week, the antitrust watchdog reached the conclusion that the local subsidiary of the German luxury carmaker should be sanctioned for its alleged violation of fair trade and advertising acts and notified the company accordingly. The company is suspected of having claimed in promotional materials that the vehicle’s battery was sourced from CATL, the world’s largest battery firm, but the car involved in the fire was actually equipped with a battery manufactured by Farasis Energy, a less popular Chinese brand. The FTC has since conducted multipleWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times