In August this year, South Korea's total car output increased by 2.5 percent compared to July and was up 44.3 percent year on year, totaling 342,624 units, according to a report released by the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MOTIE).
However, overall car sales in South Korea in August decreased 11.1 percent from the previous month and were up 29.4 percent compared to August 2012, amounting to 125,044 units. Led by strong marketing efforts and the introduction of new models, domestic sales of South Korean cars increased by 29 percent to 111,067 units in August compared to August 2012. Thanks to rising demand for diesel cars, sales of imported cars jumped 32.2 percent on year-on-year basis to 13,977. Meanwhile, in August South Korean car exports increased 38.9 percent year on year to 230,480 vehicles.
In the first eight months of the current year, South Korea's car
production fell by 0.5 percent year on year to 2,960,878 units. Compared with the same period of the previous year, overall car sales in South Korea increased by 29.4 percent to 1,017,078 units in the first eight months. Imported car sales rose 32.2 percent to 103,417 vehicles, while sales of domestic
production cars increased 29 percent to 913,661 units, both on year-on-year basis. Meanwhile, in the first eight months of the year, car exports from South Korea fell by 2.7 percent year on year to 2,049,743 units.