Registration of expensive company cars surges ahead of the introduction of new green license plates

Light green license plate example

Ahead of the introduction of light green license plates to identify vehicles companies use for official purposes from this year, the number of ultra-expensive company cars worth more than 300 million won increased by nearly 60 percent last year compared to a year earlier. Ferrari, which costs between 300 million and 500 million won per vehicle, sold 339 vehicles, up 12.3 percent, and Lamborghini, which has models worth 300 million won, also sold 431 vehicles, up 6.9 percent.

According to the data released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on January 14, there were 1,858 newly registered company cars with an acquisition value of more than 300 million won last year. Of these, 1,554 were worth between 300 million and 500 million won, and 304 were over 500 million won.

This is an increase of 685 vehicles (58.4 percent) worth more than 300 million in just a year, compared to 1,173 company cars (934 vehicles were worth between 300 million and 500 million won and 239 vehicles over 500 million won) registered in 2022. The number of company cars worth more than 300 million won has increased steadily -- 357 vehicles in 2018, 616 in 2019, 591 in 2020, and 820 in 2021. It increased 5.2 times in five years, with the largest annual increase last year.

For example, high-end cars worth more than 300 million won include luxurious models of Lamborghini, Porsche, and Ferrari.

Of the 271,034 newly registered imported cars excluding Tesla last year, 107,677, or 39.7 percent, were owned by corporations. This is slightly up from 39.1 percent in 2022, meaning that the number of company cars has increased significantly, mainly for ultra-expensive imported cars.

The system, which allows people to know at a glance that it is a company car by putting a light green color on the license plate, has been introduced to prevent cases in which high-priced vehicles have been purchased or leased under the name of a company to benefit from the tax and use them privately.

The surge in registration of high-priced imported cars last year seems to be due to the mandatory attachment of light green license plates to company cars worth more than 80 million won, which are registered by corporations starting this year. This means that it is highly likely that people rushed to purchase cars to avoid attaching light green license plates on them. They took advantage of a loophole that the system does not apply retroactively.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.