South Korea's new vehicle registrations fell 9 percent last year from a year earlier as chip shortages affected vehicle production and sales, the transport ministry said Wednesday.

The number of newly registered vehicles declined 173,000 units to 17.43 million in 2021 from 19.16 million a year ago, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.

Of the annual total, registrations of locally produced passenger cars fell 11 percent to 14.29 million last year from 1.60 million, while imported passenger car registrations rose 1.9 percent to 314,000 units during the same period, it said.

EV registrations more than doubled to 100,000 units last year from 460,000 the previous year, bringing the total EV registrations to 231,443 units, the ministry said.

New vehicle registrations include commercial vehicle registrations.

As of the end of 2021, the country's accumulated vehicle registrations rose 2.2 percent, or 550,000 units, to 24.91 million from 24.36 million a year earlier helped by increased sales of eco-friendly and sport-utility vehicles.

Eighty-eight percent of the cumulative registered vehicles were made by the country's five carmakers -- Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp., and SsangYong Motor Co. -- with the remaining 12 percent accounted for by imported carmakers. (Yonhap)