EV ‘phobia’ allegedly grips South Korea, leading to price cuts

Electric vehicle (EV) phobia is allegedly gripping customers in South Korea after an electric Mercedes-Benz caught fire. The government announced an emergency meeting about EV safety, and now automakers are rolling out significant price cuts to attract new car buyers.

Auto dealers for foreign brands plan to cut retail prices by around 30% for new buyers. Around 30 vehicles under foreign brands will offer at least a 20% discount. According to Getcha, most of the discounted vehicles, around 73%, are electric vehicles. 

Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi are among the foreign brands expected to initiate vehicle price cuts this month.

Audi is rolling out discounts for e-tron variants. Audi AG’s e-tron 55 quarto, e-tron S quarto, and Q8 e-tron Sportback will get a 29.5% discount each from their regular price. Meanwhile, the Audi RS e-tron GT will get a 24.5% discount. 

BMW is rolling out discounts of around 12%+ for the i7 xDrive60 and iX XDrive50. Mercedes-Benz is offering a 10% discount for the EQE EV, while Volkswagen is introducing a 23% discount for the ID.4.

“Imported vehicles usually get higher discounts near the end of the year. But this time, foreign brand dealers are unusually offering sharper discounts even in the summer. Probably, they were influenced by the weakening consumer sentiment toward EVs following the Mercedes blaze,” said an imported vehicle dealer told KED Global. 

Last week, an electric Mercedes-Benz caught fire in an underground parking lot, causing significant damage. The blaze prompted South Korea’s environment ministry to schedule an emergency meeting to discuss EV fire safety.

During the meeting, the South Korean government considered requiring EV automakers to divulge the battery brands they use to produce electric vehicles. Hyundai Motor Group has already released the battery brands it uses for Hyundai and Kia EVs. 

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