The U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency announced today that they will be slapping a $300 million penalty on South Korean car manufacturers Hyundai and Kia for purposely overstating fuel economy figures on more than a million vehicles combined.
The above mentioned penalty represents a record high for violations of the U.S. government’s Clean Air Act, according to statements from government officials. These penalties will be broken down into two categories – a collective $100 million in actual fines, and about $200 million worth of greenhouse gas emission credits; these credits are earned by automakers by manufacturing vehicles with lower-than-mandated emissions figures.
The investigation began in 2012, when Hyundai and Kia confessed to advertising higher-than-actual fuel economy figures for its vehicles sold in the U.S. This came after the EPA began probing into owner complaints, claiming that their cars weren’t capable of the mileage that was advertised by the carmakers. The cars in question included popular vehicles like the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Rio.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that the landmark penalty should be a warning to other auto manufacturers in the future. “I believe this will send an important message to automakers around the world that they must comply with the law,” he remarked. Further, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy piped in with her own comments, saying that the settlement “upholds the integrity of the nation’s fuel economy and greenhouse gasp programs and supports all Americans who want to save fuel costs and reduce their environmental impact.”