A group of BMW owners have filed a complaint against key officials of the German carmaker and its Korean unit following a spate of reported engine fires involving BMW vehicles.  

The group, consisting of 20 BMW owners and one victim of a BMW vehicle fire, submitted the complaint through their lawyer to a Seoul police station Thursday morning. 

The complaint targets six senior BMW officials, including Johann Ebenbichler, the automaker's vice president on quality management, and BMW Korea Chairman Kim Hyo-joon. 

The lawyer said that roughly 20 more BMW drivers will join the complaint next week and its main purpose is to secure evidence proving the carmaker's alleged attempts to hide defects in cars. 

On Thursday, two more BMW cars caught fire in South Korea to take the total number of fires involving the German brand's vehicles this year to 36. 

BMW Korea announced a recall last month of some 106-thousand vehicles, citing defects in the exhaust gas recirculation system as the main cause of the fires.