Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid Cars Should Be Excluded
Toyota sold no electric, hydrogen, LPG and gasoline vehicles at all in South Korea last year, when it sold 14,168 hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in South Korea and its low-pollution car supply rate calculated by the South Korean government was 43.7 percent. The figure is the highest of those of the 10 automakers covered by the South Korean government, including Hyundai Motor Co., SsangYong Motor, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
In that period, Renault Samsung Motors sold 1,889 electric and hydrogen vehicles, no hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles, and 3,641 LPG and gasoline vehicles in South Korea and its supply rate was 5 percent, the lowest on the top 10 list.
In other words, Renault Samsung Motors sold the most eco-friendly cars in quantity, Toyota sold a lot of less eco-friendly cars without selling the most eco-friendly cars at all, and yet the government failed to reflect this in its statistics.
Hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles are less eco-friendly than electric and hydrogen vehicles, according to the government, and the former are not even eligible for government subsidies for eco-friendly cars in South Korea. Still, the government reflected Toyota’s hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales in its statistics for promoting the sale of low-pollution cars.
According to experts, the government needs to change the way of calculation. In California and China, hybrid, LPG and gasoline vehicles are not reflected at all in low-pollution car supply rate calculation.