The government is accelerating support for auto parts companies' transition to future vehicles.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Minister Moon Seung-wook) and the Korea Automotive Research Institute (President Heo Nam-yong) announced the 'Automotive Parts Company Innovation Support Project' on the 20th.

This year's support budget is 5 billion won, with a maximum of 70 million won per company. Following the first announcement, a second announcement is scheduled for July.

This year, we plan to differentiate and support parts companies by dividing them into the "preparation stage" and the "execution stage" according to their stage of transition to future vehicles.

For companies in the "preparatory stage" seeking business restructuring, we will dispatch retired professionals from automakers to parts companies to support the development of business restructuring strategies, such as identifying business items. For companies in the "execution stage" undergoing business restructuring for future vehicles, we will support prototype production, testing and evaluation/certification, and commercialization strategy consulting.

In particular, when first-tier and second- and third-tier partners jointly apply, we plan to provide preferential support by increasing the amount of support and granting extra points during selection and evaluation.

In addition, the 'Business Restructuring Support Team' launched last year will provide follow-up support for the technology, funds, and market development necessary for the transition to future vehicles.

In addition, we plan to identify and closely support the future vehicle transition needs of local parts companies through regional branches of the Korea Automotive Research Institute (Siheung, Gwangju, Yeongam, Daegu, and Changwon, South Jeolla Province).

Park Jae-young, Director General of Manufacturing Industry Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said,uo; In order to secure the future competitiveness of the automobile industry, it is most important for parts companies, which are the foundation of the automobile industry, to transition to future vehicles,” he said. “In order to accelerate the transition of parts companies to future vehicles, we plan to establish a support platform and expand support means such as establishing dedicated R&D centers, providing transition training for current employees, and creating funds.”