In May this year, South Korea's total car output decreased by 0.9 percent year on year and was down 0.3 percent compared to April this year, totaling 385,371 units, according to a report released by the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MOTIE). The report says that the fall on year-on-year basis was due to reduced working hours.
Domestic car sales in May rose 0.3 percent compared to May 2012, to 133,393 units. Sales of imported cars posted the highest-ever monthly performance on the back of healthy sales growth for German and Japanese brands. Meanwhile, in May South Korean car exports fell 0.3 percent year on year to 268,956 vehicles.
In the first five months of the current year, South Korea's car production fell by 3.8 percent year on year to 1,885,569 units. Compared with the same period of the previous year, domestic sales of South Korean cars increased 0.2 percent in the first five months. Imported car sales rose 19.4 percent to 61,695 vehicles, while sales of domestic production cars fell 1.5 percent to 562,466 units, both on year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, in the first five months of the year, car exports from South Korea fell by 6.3 percent year on year to 1,311,754 units.