South Korea fines Mercedes $7.6 million over misleading EV battery information

South Korea fines Mercedes $7.6 million over misleading EV battery information

• South Korea fines Mercedes-Benz $7.6 mln for misleading consumers about EV battery suppliers
• Mercedes-Benz Korea disputes ruling, plans legal action
• Regulator says Mercedes sales guidelines misrepresented battery suppliers in ​some EV models

SEOUL, March 10 (Reuters) – South Korea’s ‌antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it has fined Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE), 11.2 billion won ($7.61 million) for misrepresenting the battery suppliers in its electric vehicles.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission said Mercedes-Benz promoted its EQE and ​EQS models as using premium cells from CATL (300750.SZ), the world’s largest ​EV battery maker, while concealing that some vehicles instead carried Farasis ⁠Energy (688567.SS). batteries – information absent from dealer guides and marketing material.

CATL held a 39% share ​of the global EV battery market in 2025, while Farasis Energy did not rank ​among the world’s top 10 battery suppliers, according to industry tracker SNE Research.

Mercedes-Benz Korea said in a statement,

We respect the decision made at the plenary session at KFTC; however, we firmly disagree with the Commission’s final ​decision,

The company added that it would “take necessary legal ​measures, including an administrative lawsuit,” and said it had “accurately conveyed true and correct information to ‌both the ⁠media and our customers.”

INVESTIGATION TRIGGERED BY EV FIRE

The FTC said it launched an investigation after it found battery cells in a Mercedes EV involved in an August 2024 fire at an underground parking lot in Incheon were made by Farasis.

About 3,000 vehicles containing ​Farasis battery cells were ​sold between June ⁠2023 and August 2024, with total sales amounting to roughly 281 billion won, the FTC said.

The regulator’s 11.2 billion won ​fine, equivalent to about 4% of the related sales, was ​the maximum ⁠penalty allowed under the law for such unfair practices, it said.

An FTC official said Mercedes’ German headquarters and its Korean unit would jointly pay the fine.

The regulator said ⁠it ​would also refer both Mercedes headquarters in Germany ​and the Korean unit to prosecutors, saying the two were involved directly or indirectly in creating and distributing ​the sales guidelines.

($1 = 1,471.6000 won)

Reporting by Heekyong Yang Editing by Ed Davies and Louise Heavens

READ the latest Batteries News shaping the battery market

South Korea fines Mercedes $7.6 million over misleading EV battery information, source