Zeekr, the premium electric vehicle brand under China's Geely Automobile Group, is moving to hire dedicated government affairs personnel in South Korea who will oversee relations with the government and the National Assembly, as well as policy response efforts.
The move appears aimed at securing policy response capabilities as the company fully ramps up domestic sales.
According to industry sources on the 3rd, Zeekr Korea plans to newly hire personnel dedicated to handling automotive industry policy response while communicating with relevant agencies, including the government and the National Assembly. This is separate from personnel responsible for vehicle certification, and no hires have been finalized at this time.
Previously, Zeekr posted a job listing on LinkedIn, a recruitment platform, seeking candidates to handle both vehicle certification and government affairs duties.
At that time, key responsibilities listed included building relationships with government ministries and affiliated public institutions, proposing opinions for regulatory improvements, and conducting risk assessments in response to legal amendments. Applicants were required to have more than 10 years of experience in government affairs and certification within the automotive industry.
While vehicle certification personnel manage compliance with domestic regulations and certification procedures for individual models, dedicated government affairs staff will focus on relations with the government and the National Assembly, as well as policy response. This is interpreted as Zeekr's effort to separate vehicle certification and policy response functions in line with its expansion of domestic operations.
Zeekr established a Korean subsidiary last year and signed contracts with domestic dealerships to prepare for market entry. The company began pre-orders for the mid-size electric SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) "7X" in June this year, and on the 21st of last month, it delivered vehicles to its first customer, SK On. It is also expanding its sales and after-sales service network, including domestic showrooms and service centers.
Other Chinese automakers are also moving to secure personnel for domestic certification and regulatory response. BYD Korea posted a job listing this year that included duties such as automotive certification, analysis of related regulations, and government response work. In response, a BYD Korea official stated, "It was a recruitment drive for the certification team responsible for vehicle certification and other tasks, and the hiring process is currently complete."
The market competitiveness of automakers is influenced not only by vehicle performance and price but also by policy response capabilities. In particular, as government policies such as EV subsidies and automotive safety and environmental regulations directly impact consumers' actual purchase prices and business competitiveness, the importance of government affairs work is growing.
Indeed, in the evaluation for selecting operators of the EV promotion project announced by the government last June, domestic automakers such as Hyundai Motor and Kia, along with major imported car brands, passed, while BYD was excluded from the selection targets.
As policy response capabilities emerge as a key variable determining the market competitiveness of automakers, Chinese automakers are showing interest in securing domestic government affairs personnel. An industry official noted, "As policy response becomes increasingly important in the automotive industry, there are cases where Chinese car companies offer exceptional terms to recruit government affairs personnel."
in INDUSTRY
