South Korea’s new government should thoroughly review the effect of raising the price of diesel oil or banning diesel vehicles from running on the roads before it implements the plans to improve air quality in the country, said Choi Johng-sik, chief executive of Ssangyong Motor Co., Korean unit of India’s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

In a luncheon with reporters on Wednesday at MVL Hotel in Goyang, Gyeonggi, Choi said that the government should reconsider its plans to regulate diesel vehicles as there are other factors that aggravate air pollution such as find dust coming over from China. Citing a local report, he argued pollution caused by vehicles account for only 10 to 15 percent of overall pollution that chocks the country and it is not fair to blame cars as the main cause of air pollution.

Having said so, Choi has became the first executive in the local auto industry to voice against the new Moon Jae-in government’s possible measures to regulate diesel vehicles to reduce fine dust and pollution.

Choi told reporters that one other news report also pointed out that although the overall number of diesel vehicles in the country has increased, the amount of emissions they fume out has rather decreased thanks to current regulations on diesel cars such as the latest Euro 6 regulations. The executive said that when speaking of carbon dioxide that causes global warming, diesel cars are highly qualified and beats gasoline cars.

Choi also argued that diesel vehicles including freight cars are fundamentally an economic option and are used by many small individual businesses. He said it is a general trend to move on from diesel to gasoline, but the government should carefully study the effect of its diesel car regulations before their implementation.

Industry insiders suspected that Choi’s comments echo the local auto industry’s concerns over the Moon government’s diesel vehicle regulation measures. During his presidential campaign, Moon pledged to gradually ban diesel vehicles from running on the roads by 2030 to reduce air pollution.

Such a plan would affect Ssangyong Motor the most as the company’s mainstay products are diesel engine-based sport utility vehicles. Industry figures showed that 63.6 percent of Ssangyong Motor vehicles sold in the first five months of this year were fitted with a diesel engine.

During the luncheon, Choi also revealed that the company considers exporting its full-size SUV G4 Rexton coming with a 2.0 turbo engine to China in January next year. The automaker is currently taking steps to receive sales certification for the car in China. The model is due to hit the Korean market in the second half of this year.

By Woo Je-yoon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]