The number of vehicle registrations in South Korea exceeded 24 million in the first half helped by strong demand for environment friendly models, the transport ministry said Monday.
Accumulated auto registrations came to 24.02 million at the end of June, up 1.4 percent from 23.68 million at the end of December, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.
The first-half registrations showed that one in every 2.16 South Koreans owns a car, it said.
"The number of car registrations is likely to continue to grow for the time being, though not rapidly, due to growing demand for hydrogen fuel-cell electric and other less emitting models," a ministry official said.
Robust domestic sales of eco-friendly and recreational models helped offset local carmakers' lackluster overseas sales amid the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
In the first half, domestic vehicle sales rose 7.2 percent on-year to 930,000 units, while vehicle exports plunged 33 percent to 820,000 units due to the coronavirus' impact on the automobile industry, the statement said.
Vehicles made by the country's five carmakers -- Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors, GM Korea, Renault Samsung Motors and SsangYong Motor -- accounted for 89.4 percent of the total registrations at end-June, with imported brand models accounting for the remainder, it said.
The proportion of imported cars continued to rise to reach 10.6 percent at end-June, up from 2.5 percent in 2009. (Yonhap)
