Mercedes' EQE in Korea: the battery it hid was the one that burned

From June 2023, Mercedes-Benz Korea sold EQE and EQS sedans through an internal 'EQ Sales Playbook' that presented the cars as carrying CATL cells — the world's number one — while some, including the EQE 350+, in fact carried Farasis batteries that had already been recalled abroad for fire risk.

When an EQE burned in an Incheon apartment garage in 2024, evacuating residents and torching neighboring cars, the substitution became public. On March 10, 2026, the Fair Trade Commission fined Mercedes-Benz Korea ₩11.239 billion — the 4% statutory cap on ₩281B of related sales — and referred both the Korean firm and the German group to prosecutors. Mercedes disputes the ruling and filed suit.

Related sales of ₩281B became the base of the fine; the fire made the brochure evidence.