Korea weighs tax incentives for EVs as Chinese rivals gain ground

Korea is weighing tax incentives for domestically produced electric vehicles (EVs) as Chinese rivals rapidly gain market share, fueling calls from automakers and lawmakers across party lines for government support to protect local production and jobs. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il said the government would announce measures to strengthen the EV industry's competitiveness this month, following talks with Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun on Monday. Whether EVs should qualify for domestic production tax credits is expected to be a key focus of parliamentary debate over the government's tax reform plan. Chinese-made passenger EVs accounted for 43.5 percent of new registrations in Korea from January to September, up 8.4 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile and Mobility Association and the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association. Registrations more than doubled to about 112,400 vehicles from 51,500 year-on-year. Meanwhile, the share of domestically produced passenger EVs fell 6.2 percentage points to