Jaguar Land Rover Korea is likely to face a penalty in Korea next year for overstating the fuel economy of its 2015 Jaguar XF 2.2D, the diesel-powered British executive saloon, according to news reports on Sunday. 

“Jaguar Land Rover Korea overstated the fuel economy of its best-selling luxury sedan by more than 10 percent both on the city road and highway tests,” a Yonhap news report quoted an industry source as saying.

The result is based on this year’s first-round fuel economy tests of 23 sampled new cars, which the Korea Transportation Safety Agency conducted during the summer for the Ministry of Transport.

“In the test, the gap between the submitted and tested mileages of the Jaguar XF 2.2D were over 10 percent on the city roads and highways each,” the report said.

Under the current Korean law, the fuel economy gap on city roads and highways should each come within a 5 percent margin of error. If the margin goes over 5 percent, the carmaker can face fines or compensation orders.

It is not yet certain whether Jaguar Land Rover Korea will ask for the second-round fuel economy test yet as the firm’s press relations managers could not be reached over the issue on Sunday.

The Transport Ministry plans to release the 2015 fuel economy test of new cars in the first half of next year.

By Seo Jee-yeon  (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)