Corporate Cars Prefer Mercedes-Benz and BMW... Overwhelming Proportion of 'Light Green License Plates'

Imported Cars 65% · Domestic Cars 35%
Genesis G90 Most Sold... 2,801 Units

Since the introduction of the exclusive light green license plate system for corporate passenger cars priced over 80 million KRW last January, it has been identified that approximately 12,000 vehicles nationwide have newly attached the corresponding license plates within about six months.

On the 28th, an analysis of data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to the office of Lee Yeon-hee, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, showed that a total of 12,621 corporate passenger cars had newly attached light green license plates from January this year until the 18th of this month. Among these, 4,388 vehicles (34.8%) were domestic cars, while the remaining 8,233 vehicles (65.2%) were imported cars, with imported cars accounting for more than half.

In January, an employee at the Suwon Urban Corporation License Plate Manufacturing Office in Gwonseon-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, was organizing green license plates for high-value corporate vehicles.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The single model with the most light green license plates attached was the so-called "Chairman’s car," the Genesis G90, with a total of 2,801 units (including 133 long-wheelbase models), overwhelmingly dominating among domestic cars. Following this, domestic models such as the Genesis GV80 (853 units) and GV80 Coupe (392 units) were also frequently registered.

Among imported car brands, Mercedes-Benz was the highest with 3,366 units. BMW was second with 2,451 units. Among Mercedes-Benz models, the S500 4MATIC (401 units) had the most light green license plates, while for BMW, the 740i xDrive (439 units) was the most common model with the light green plates.

Looking at the light green license plate vehicles by price range, those priced between 80 million KRW and less than 100 million KRW accounted for 4,247 units (2,636 domestic and 1,611 imported), making up 33.7%. Next were vehicles priced between 100 million KRW and 120 million KRW with 3,284 units (1,423 domestic and 1,861 imported), accounting for 26%, followed by those priced between 120 million KRW and 150 million KRW with 2,325 units (230 domestic and 2,095 imported), accounting for 18.4%. Vehicles priced over 150 million KRW totaled 2,765 units (21.9%), of which only 99 were domestic cars (Genesis G90 long-wheelbase).

By region, Busan had the highest number of registrations with 2,588 units (20.5%), followed by Incheon with 2,473 units (19.6%). Next were Gyeongnam (1,625 units), Jeju (1,434 units), Gyeonggi (1,207 units), and Seoul (1,129 units). Regarding this, an automotive industry official explained to Yonhap News, "When registering a new car, a certain percentage of the vehicle price must be paid as public bonds, and it seems that 'expedition registration' has occurred in places like Busan and Incheon where the public bond purchase rate is particularly low." He added, "Jeju likely had many high-priced imported car registrations due to the large number of rental car corporations."

Since last January, corporate passenger cars priced over 80 million KRW that are newly or re-registered must attach light green license plates. As of the end of last year, the cumulative number of corporate passenger cars registered with an acquisition price exceeding 300 million KRW was 6,029 units, which is three times the number of personal passenger cars over 300 million KRW (1,945 units). Following concerns that many luxury imported cars purchased under corporate names were being used for private purposes, President Yoon Seok-yeol pledged the "light green license plate" policy during his presidential campaign, stating, "To distinguish corporate cars used for tax evasion purposes, the license plates should be made conspicuous like taxis." The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport expects about 20,000 vehicles to have light green license plates by the end of this year.

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