Automakers: No dirty tax on diesel cars
Last month, the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association urged the government to abolish a pollution tax imposed on diesel-fueled car owners immediately. It was one of the measures that the association of domestic automakers proposed to boost the auto industry, which has been hit hard by the global financial crisis.
Currently, a tax of up to hundreds of thousands of won per year called the Environment Improvement Charge is imposed on diesel-fueled cars, but not on gasoline-fueled or liquefied natural gas-fueled cars. The association blamed the tax as one of the factors that have dampened domestic demand for diesel-fueled cars. It pointed out that diesel-fueled cars accounted for only 17.4 percent of new passenger car sales last year, down from a peak of 35.6 percent in 2004.
Last year’s diesel price hikes helped pull down the ratio, but the pollution tax had a major effect, the association said, not just for the financial burden it places on buyers but also by giving the impression that these cars are less environmentally friendly than others.
“Through technological development, carbon dioxide and particular matter emissions from diesel-fueled cars have declined so significantly that European consumers now regard diesel-fueled cars as eco-friendly vehicles,” Kang Chul-koo, executive director of KAMA, recently said. “Accordingly, it is not proper to impose a pollution tax on diesel-fueled cars.”
Diesel-fueled cars represent more than 60 percent of sales on the European passenger car market because of consumers’ trust in “clean diesel,” said Juergen Gerhardt, senior vice president of diesel system engineering at Robert Bosch, during the 8th Advanced Diesel Engine Technology Symposium late last year.
The current fuel consumption of diesel engines is up to 33 percent lower than conventional gasoline engines, with 25 percent lower emissions, the executive of the Germany-based engine maker said. Diesel-fueled cars meeting tight Euro IV emissions standards were introduced in Korea in 2005, and many new models are now equipped with engines that meet Euro IV or the even tighter Euro V standards. Still, Korean consumers believe that diesel engines cause more emissions, according to a recent survey by the Korean unit of Robert Bosch. Only 17 percent of those polled said that when buying a new car they would choose a diesel-fueled one, citing noise and pollution. But, after hearing explanations about “clean diesel,” 36 percent of those polled said they would buy a diesel-fueled car. Now, the government is considering abolishing the pollution tax for diesel-fueled cars that meet Euro IV or V standards.
Park Yung-hu, president of Robert Bosch Korea, told reporters late last month that a tax benefit should be given to cars with “clean diesel” engines and that it is unfair to give tax breaks only to hybrid electric cars.
By Moon So-young Staff Reporter [symoon@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)