In July this year, South Korea's total car output decreased by 16.1 percent compared to June this year and was down 6.1 percent year on year, totaling 334,139 units, according to a report released by the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MOTIE). The report says that the fall in the production figure was due to partial strikes by auto workers.
However, domestic car sales in July rose 10.6 percent over the previous month and were up 5.8 percent compared to July 2012, to 140,642 units. Even amid unfavorable economic conditions, new models and strong marketing efforts pushed up sales of domestic cars by 2.9 percent to 125,689 units in July compared to July 2012. Led by German brands, sales of imported cars jumped 38.9 percent on year-on-year basis to 14,953, marking the highest-ever monthly performance. Meanwhile, in July South Korean car exports fell 7.3 percent year on year to 223,482 vehicles.
In the first seven months of the current year, South Korea's car production fell by 4.4 percent year on year to 2,618,023 units. Compared with the same period of the previous year, domestic sales of South Korean cars increased 0.2 percent to 892,047 units in the first seven months. Imported car sales rose 22.5 percent to 89,440 vehicles, while sales of domestic production cars fell 1.8 percent to 802,596 units, both on year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, in the first seven months of the year, car exports from South Korea fell by 6.6 percent year on year to 1,812,796 units.