Camping Enthusiasts Hooked on 'Chabak'... Camping Vehicle Tuning Cases Surge 251% in One Year

Korea Transportation Safety Authority Announces 2020 Car Tuning Analysis Results
Total Car Tuning Approvals Increase 13.8% Year-on-Year
Surge in Demand for Camping Vehicles Drives Overall Tuning Approvals

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The number of approved car tunings increased by nearly 14% in one year. This is analyzed to be due to the popularity of 'chabak'?camping by staying overnight in cars during the COVID-19 era?and the more than 200% increase in camping car tunings.

According to the Korea Transportation Safety Authority on the 17th, the number of approved car tunings last year increased by 13.8% (29,473 cases) compared to the previous year.

Among car tuning items, the number of tunings for camping cars, vehicle type changes, auxiliary supports for cargo beds, interior tops (wing bodies), and exhaust gas emission prevention devices showed a significant increase compared to the previous year.

In particular, the number of camping car tunings surged by 251% (5,514 units) to 7,709 cases compared to the previous year.

The Authority forecasted, "Continuous growth is expected due to the spread of leisure culture." It also analyzed, "Due to last year's government easing of tuning regulations expanding vehicle types for camping cars and high interest in chabak, the demand for camping car tunings is high not only for vans (3,813 cases) but also for trucks (3,312 cases) and passenger cars (541 cases)."

The vehicle type change tuning between trucks and special vehicles, which had been highly demanded in the market, completed 4,452 tunings over about 10 months since the related system was implemented in February last year, indicating that the tuning market is becoming full-fledged.

In particular, since tuning trucks into special vehicles is relatively inexpensive, the tuning changing vehicle type from truck to special vehicle accounted for 90.7% of the total.

Also, since the implementation of tuning for auxiliary supports for cargo beds in September last year, 7,061 tunings were completed by the end of last month, receiving positive evaluations for securing driving safety on the road.

Additionally, due to increased demand in the logistics industry caused by COVID-19, tuning for interior tops (wing bodies) increased, and tuning for exhaust gas emission prevention devices mainly increased to reduce fine dust.

Kwon Yong-bok, Director of the Authority, said, "Due to regulatory easing such as allowing camping car tunings last year, domestic demand for car tuning is increasing," and added, "The Authority plans to actively work for the growth of the tuning industry by establishing a tuning support foundation going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.