[Public Voices] The Opportunity to Become a Global Electric Vehicle Hub Has Arrived

Government Announces National Advanced Industry Development Strategy
Presents Multifaceted Solutions Including Securing Production Sites
Passage of Special Taxation Amendment Is Encouraging

On March 15, at the 14th Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting, the government announced the ‘National Advanced Industry Development Strategy’ for six key industries including future vehicles. The automotive industry expects this to be an opportunity to establish a global electric vehicle production hub and enhance export competitiveness.

Recently, not only major industrial countries such as the United States, Europe, and China but also developing countries like Thailand and Indonesia have been pouring out policies to protect their domestic industries and expand investment support for future vehicles such as electric vehicles. In this context, this announcement is considered a very timely measure and response, and is welcomed.

The announcement includes securing sites for electric vehicle production, investing more than 2 trillion won by 2027 for core technology development such as sensors and secondary batteries, training 30,000 future vehicle convergence personnel including software experts by 2030, enacting the ‘Future Vehicle Transition Special Act’ to support the parts industry’s transition to future vehicles, easing labor regulations, and global standardization. These present multifaceted solutions to the concerns and difficulties our industry has faced regarding the transition to future vehicles.

Until now, the automotive industry has continuously raised and proposed issues such as a poor investment environment compared to overseas due to lack of incentives, shortage of core technologies and personnel related to electrification and autonomous driving, restrictions on labor flexibility due to rigid labor environments, and difficulties in the future vehicle transition of small parts companies. In this regard, this announcement is seen as a moment when public-private cooperation is bearing considerable fruit.

Moreover, the six core advanced industries include not only future vehicles but also semiconductors, secondary batteries, robots, and displays, which are key technologies of the automotive industry and related upstream and downstream industries in the expanded mobility sector. The government plans to focus investment and support in these areas, which will create synergy for the future development of the future vehicle and mobility industries.

Additionally, including ‘investment-friendly country’ and ‘strengthening trade capabilities’ in the development strategy is significant for our export-oriented automotive industry amid intensifying competition among countries to attract electric vehicle production and investment. Our automotive industry depends on exports for more than 60% of production, with last year’s export value reaching $77.4 billion and a trade surplus of $55.2 billion, ranking first, making it a core export-oriented national industry with high expectations.

In particular, electric vehicles account for 10% of total passenger car exports and 16% of export value, playing a major role in export growth, making incentives for expanding domestic electric vehicle production and investment increasingly important. Now that the government has laid the foundation for the development strategy, what matters most is ‘timing’ and ‘detail.’ The present, not the future, is the ‘golden time’ for the transition to future vehicles. The government’s announced measures must be promptly legislated, and subordinate laws systematically established so that companies can quickly feel the policy effects in the industrial field.

Especially, the passage on March 30 in the National Assembly of the amendment to the Restriction of Special Taxation Act, which includes future mobility such as electric and autonomous vehicles as national strategic technologies, is very encouraging as it shows the government and the National Assembly recognize the importance of the future vehicle industry. However, since the specific scope of technology will be determined through future subordinate law revisions, it is very important that electric vehicle production facilities are included in national strategic technologies and commercialization facilities.

Our automotive industry will also make every effort to build an early future vehicle ecosystem and enhance competitiveness by expanding domestic electric vehicle production, internalizing core technologies, providing future vehicle job transition education and training specialized personnel, and strengthening win-win cooperation between complete vehicle and parts industries to achieve early attainment of the ‘global top three’ in future vehicles.

Gang Nam-hoon, Chairman of the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association

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