After spending the last two years resolving issues related to emissions in the aftermath of “dieselgate,” Audi Volkswagen Korea, the local distributor of the German carmakers, is now devoted to regaining drivers’ trust by transforming itself, the company said Friday.

“We know we have disappointed many people who have placed their trust in Audi Volkswagen Korea. I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere apology,” said Rene Koneberg, group managing director of Audi Volkswagen Korea, in a press conference in central Seoul.

“We utilized last year as an opportunity to reflect on our past and to transform Audi Volkswagen Korea by focusing on the following three key principals: work on old issues and resolve them, be an open and transparent company and develop a sustainable plan for the future.”

To regain customers’ trust, the company introduced its “Mission 5” strategy to be pursued over the next five years, with the aim of improving customer satisfaction, social responsibility and internal efficiency, while acting with integrity and recovering market leadership.

As its first step, the company finalized recalls for cars affected by the diesel scandal, totaling 125,515 vehicles powered by the EA189 engine.

The company has fixed cheating devices installed in 15,712 units of the Tiguan sport utility vehicle, which makes up 58 percent of Tiguan SUVs on roads since it began recalls of the model in February last year.

As for recalls concerning nine Audi and Volkswagen models that began last September, the company has updated 35,901 units, equating to 44 percent of the affected cars, it said.

Changes have been made to Audi Volkswagen Korea’s leadership organization, which is headed by two managing directors: Koneberg in charge of business strategy and Marcus Hellmann who manages legal issues.

In addition, the number of employees allocated to the technical compliance team has increased to 12 from four workers, the company said. The team has been divided into two sub-teams -- a power train team that is responsible for emissions and fuel efficiency, and a whole vehicle team that handles self-certification.

With aims to recover its market share in Korea to the level seen before the emissions scandal, Audi, Volkwagen, Bentley and Lamborghini will launch a total 40 new models in the next three years, the company said.

It added that electric vehicles will make up some 25 percent of its products by 2020 in accordance with the headquarters’ road map.

Meanwhile, as part of the company’s efforts to rebuild trust, Audi Volkswagen Korea initiated the “We Care Campaign” in February last year. It distributed 1 million won vouchers to owners of 272,315 units of Audi and Volkswagen vehicles registered until the end of 2016.

Seeking to turn the diesel emissions scandal into an opportunity, Audi Volkswagen Korea noted that it had strengthened cooperation with local companies and the government.

Local steelmaker Posco, LG Electronics, LG Chem and Conavis are among the 61 partner companies of Volkswagen Group for future automobile development.

The amount of transactions between local companies and Volkswagen Group was 526.9 billion won ($492.9 million) last year, up 115 percent from 245.7 billion won in 2015, according to Audi Volkwagen Korea.

Audi Volkswagen Korea continues to a face class-action lawsuit filed by Audi and Volkswagen owners here in 2016. 

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)