[Mediapen=Kim Sang-jun] Volkswagen’s ‘diesel gate’ and BMW’s ‘fire car’ was the latest hot issue of the imported car industry. Both Volkswagen and BMW suffered massive blow to its brand image, and follow-up measures of recall is still in progress.
Left=BMW 320d(Source=BMW)/Right=Volkswagen Golf(Source=Volkswagen)
Both companies should be dealing with these problems quickly and properly as they are directly related to consumer’s safety. However, Volkswagen and BMW are showing completely opposite response.
Kim Byeong-hoon, owner of 2016 BMW 320d said he was worried when a series of the same model caught fire in the summer of 2018. However, he was soon assured by BMW’s prompt response. After the fire incident, BMW began to send out phone calls, letters and mail to owners suggesting recall and repair services.
Mr.Kim was nearly annoyed by the continuous call, but he said that he was thankful to the company for the active response and repair services.
On the other hand, Lee Young-jin, owner of Volkswagen’s Golf model was not so lucky. He is still suffering from Volkswagen diesel gate's nightmare.
Mr.Lee bought the diesel model because it was known to be environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient. Now, he is causing environmental pollution by driving his car. It took 3 months to get his car recalled, but he recently found out that he had to get his car recalled again due to transmission defects.
He found out about the new recall through an online car community. Until then, he didn’t receive one call from Volkswagen about the defect and recall.
When he contacted Volkswagen, he was told he had to wait until December to make a reservation for recall due to lack of spare parts. He criticized that Volkswagen is not taking active actions and that they showed no will for repair services.
A senior official of the import car industry commented that Volkswagen’s actions can lead to the distrust of the whole import car industry. He added that Volkswagen lost its last change to restore its trust by failing to react to its defects and recall.