The government decided to provide 18 trillion won in policy financing this year to foster the future car industry, including Autonomous Driving vehicles.
The Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources held the "public-private joint meeting on the transition to future cars" and the "launching ceremony of the future car parts industry consultative body" at the Korea Automotive Industry Cooperative in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 14th and discussed plans to foster the future car industry.
The meeting was prepared to establish a comprehensive support promotion system to accelerate the transition of Korea's automobile industry to a future car ecosystem. The Financial Services Commission decided to supply a total of 15 trillion won to the mobility sector over the next five years through the Public Growth Fund. An official at the Financial Services Commission said, "In the process of the automobile industry responding to future cars, demand for facility and research and development (R&D) investment is expanding, and the funding burden on small and mid-sized parts corporations continues to grow," explaining the background of the financial support.
This year, 9.7 trillion won will be supplied in policy financing to improve the fundamentals of the auto parts industry and 8.3 trillion won to foster the future car and Autonomous Driving vehicle industries, totaling 18 trillion won. The newly launched public-private joint future car parts industry consultative body plans to identify difficulties facing the parts industry across all areas—finance, research and development (R&D), exports, and workforce—and support the ecosystem transition.
Kwon Dae-young, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said, "The automobile industry is now evolving into a convergence-based high-tech industry and a 'total national endeavor,'" adding, "To boldly improve the fundamentals and strengthen competitiveness of the auto industry, we will work closely with related ministries to provide full support so that R&D, infrastructure investment, and financial support are organically connected."
The consultative body is composed of 18 institutions, including the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME).