Government Pushes to Increase Vehicle Gas Mileage to 24.3km/l by 2020

The Ministry of Environment has announced that it will improve the nation’s average fuel efficiency standards for cars from the current level of 17.3km/l to the 24.3km/l level of advanced countries by 2020. It will also tighten the limit of greenhouse emissions to 97g/km from the current standard of 140g/km.

By introducing a “phase-in” method, which gradually increases the rate of vehicles manufactured at a factory that meet the average fuel efficiency target, the ministry will constantly increase the percentage requirement of its vehicles to 100 percent.

The ministry is planning to demand that only 10 percent of cars produced should meet the target in 2016, and gradually the rate will increase to 20, 30, and 60 percent every year until all cars meet the target in 2020.

An official from the Ministry said, “Considering the fact that domestic automakers export about 70 percent of their vehicles overseas, we need to take preemptive action, including improving the fuel efficiency competitiveness of domestic cars compared to foreign cars and requiring them to comply with the regulations of international greenhouse gas emissions.”

The automotive industry immediately criticized the government over the higher fuel efficiency target, claiming that it is impossible to meet. The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) said, “The government’s measure is in the right direction when we look at the bigger picture. However, such a target is hard to achieve given the local market conditions. We will discuss with the government after collecting opinions of automakers.”

Currently, there is no model manufactured by Korean companies on the market that meet the government’s standards of 2020.