The number of eco-friendly cars in South Korea shot up almost 29 percent in 2015 from a year earlier amid the government's push to put more green automobiles on the road, data showed Sunday.

The country had 180,361 registered eco-friendly vehicles as of the end of last year, up 28.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association and the transportation ministry.

Hybrids were the lion's share of the representation with 174,620 units, a 27 percent jump from the previous year. The remainder were electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell cars.

Despite the on-year jump, eco-friendly cars accounted for a mere 0.9 percent of all registered vehicles in South Korea, though it was up slightly from 0.7 percent a year earlier.

Industry watchers said the proportion of eco-friendly cars will likely grow considerably this year, backed by the recent launch of an electric car by leading carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. and a government policy of boosting the spread of green cars.

In mid-January, Hyundai started selling the Ioniq hybrid, its first dedicated green car model with an aim of selling as many as 30,000 units this year.

The Ioniq is a green car developed as its own platform, as opposed to vehicles with designs and production based on existing gasoline or diesel models. Hyundai Motor plans to expand its lineup to electric vehicle and plug-in electric vehicle versions later on.

The government is committed to encouraging more people to drive eco-friendly vehicles as part of efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and generate new growth momentum for its auto industry.

In December the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it will work to have more than 1 million eco-friendly cars on the road by 2020 by backing automakers' research and development and extending more subsidies to buyers. (Yonhap)