The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET), a state-run South Korean think tank, said this past week that South Korea will enter the hybrid car market in a big way in 2011 and then continue to play a big role in the global hybrid market. As you can guess from the links below, there has been movement in this direction for a while, especially by Hyundai/Kia, but Asia Pulse said that earlier reports were hinting at a 2010 start date. KIET cited the added cost of making hybrids as the reason for the later date.

KIET gave these numbers for Korea's domestic hybrid production:

• 500,000 by 2015
• 1.8 million by 2020 (exporting 70 percent)

What vehicles these hybrid drivetrains will be put into is of course unknown at this point. Adding more than a million hybrids a year to the global marketplace will certainly help drivers use less gas (vs. driving standard vehicles), but Korean companies may want to rethink the delayed target date. Thirteen years is a long time to wait for the small MPG gains most hybrids deliver.
Related:

• Hyundai Kia group's new environmental technology R&D center
• Hyundai to produce LPG Hybrid Avante for Korea
• Hyundai shows off its hybid development center
• Hyundai needs government help to compete with the Japanese on hybirds

[Source: EDTA / Asia Pulse]

2010 is the year that hybrids will become the "market standard", according to Kim Min-jin, chief of Hyundai Motor's hybrid research lab and senior vice president of Hyundai. In order to catch up with Japanese automakers in hybrid technology, Hyundai has asked the Korean government to give subsidies to Korean hybrid manufacturers and purchasers. The Korea Times says that Korean car companies are about 10 years behind the Japanese automakers in hybrid technology. Both the Japanese and U.S. governments subsidize hybrid cars.

Hyundai introduced its first hybrid, the Click Hybrid, in 2004 and so far has 780 in use with government agencies. The car is not available to the public. Hyundai will send about 3,400 more Click Hybrids to the government by 2008 and will then, "launch a new vehicle that is superior to Japanese cars in both price and performance,'' Kim said.

[Source: The Korea Times / Cho Jin-seo]