Vehicle output in South Korea is expected to rise slightly to 4.51 million units in 2015 from this year, thanks to growing demand, a report by a state-run industrial think tank showed Thursday.

According to the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, next year’s numbers represent a 0.5 percent gain from the 4.49 million cars that are expected to be produced in the country this year.

Domestic sales of automobiles should increase 1.7 percent on-year to a little over 1.66 million units next year, while exports, measured in value, can advance 2.8 percent to $77.85 billion, KIET said.

Compared to 2014, the country is expected to pay $14.52 billion to bring in cars from abroad next year. This represents a 7.2 percent jump from numbers expected for this year. (Yonhap)