Finance Minister Visits Hyundai EV Lab, Vows Support Measures

Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hyung-il, who also heads the finance ministry, visited Hyundai and Kia's research center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 2 for a meeting with electric-vehicle and autonomous-driving companies and told them the government would produce a plan to strengthen the sector this month.

The session brought together vice ministers from the industry, environment and land ministries with Hyundai, Myunghwa Industrial, THN, Seojin Cam, Autonomous A2Z and RideFlux, according to the finance ministry. The automakers and suppliers asked for a tax credit for electric-vehicle production, expanded support for parts makers' shift to future vehicles and a legal basis for battery leasing, and called for stronger government backing to compete globally and more specialist staff at the institution responsible for autonomous driving.

"The next battleground for a rebound in our potential growth rate is the electric vehicle," Lee said. Korean companies must match the technological level of the world's leading countries within two to three years, he added, and innovation is needed more urgently than ever.

Lee said the government would examine the requests with the relevant ministries and move to improve them quickly. On the EV production tax credit, he said the government would take part actively in National Assembly deliberations and pursue an in-depth discussion.

Earlier, Lee inspected autonomous test vehicles made on an electric-vehicle platform. In all, 200 units are to be deployed in the Gwangju autonomous-driving demonstration city by the end of this year, rising to 3,000 cumulatively by 2027.