In May this year, South Korea's total car output amounted to 403,593 units, up by 3.8 percent year on year, marking a historic record for May volumes, according to a report released by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA). The report says that the increase was due to the high rate of exports and domestic demand. On the other hand, the country's auto production during the first five months of the current year climbed 5.9 percent year on year to 1,974,433 units.
Despite the unstable economic situation in Europe and the burden of household debt, domestic sales took a positive turn on the back of the launch of new models and the base effect, marking the biggest monthly volume for the current year at 121,347 units. In the first five months of this year, sales of domestic cars in South Korea fell by 6.4 percent year on year to 571,080 units.
The association also announced that in May this year South Korean car exports continued to rise, increasing by three percent year on year to 269,810 vehicles, attributed to improved price competitiveness and product confidence via the free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU and the US, coupled with rising popularity of small-sized cars. However, the pace of growth slowed down in May. South Korean car exports in the first five months of the year rose by 13.3 percent compared to the same period of 2011, totaling 1,400,643.