en.Wedoany.com Reported - South Korea's Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy announced on June 30, 2026, the results of its evaluation for the second half of 2026 electric vehicle subsidy plan, excluding BYD from the subsidy list. A total of 27 companies' passenger cars, commercial trucks, and buses were selected, but BYD Korea was not among them.

This evaluation marks the first since the implementation of South Korea's revised subsidy guidelines. Previous assessments primarily focused on vehicle performance, while the new standards expand the evaluation scope to include companies' technological development capabilities, contributions to the domestic supply chain, environmental policy responses, after-sales service sustainability, and safety management records. A total of ten passenger car companies were approved, including South Korean manufacturers Hyundai Motor, Kia, Renault Korea, and KG Mobility; six importers also qualified: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen Group, Tesla, as well as Geely-owned Volvo Cars and Polestar.

BYD's exclusion comes at a critical time for its presence in the South Korean market. From January to May 2026, BYD registered 7,023 vehicles in South Korea, already surpassing the 6,097 vehicles registered for the entire year of 2025. After just 11 months of operation, BYD achieved cumulative sales of 10,000 vehicles, making it the fastest imported brand to reach this milestone in the country. In April, BYD ranked fourth in imported brand sales, trailing only Tesla, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. Just two days before the subsidy announcement, BYD unveiled the Sealion 6 DM-i at the Busan Mobility Show, its first plug-in hybrid model in the South Korean market.

South Korea is not the first Asian market to target BYD using subsidy policies. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry implemented revised clean energy vehicle subsidy policies on April 1, reducing BYD's per-vehicle subsidy from 350,000 to 400,000 yen to a uniform 150,000 yen.