Eco-friendly Cars Surpass 35% Share... January Auto Export Value Hits Record High

[Asia Economy Reporter Su-yeon Woo] The export value of eco-friendly vehicles in January reached an all-time high. The share of eco-friendly vehicles in South Korea's automobile exports has risen to 35%.

On the 20th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the export value of eco-friendly vehicles in January this year recorded $1.79 billion, a 42.3% increase compared to the previous year. The number of exported units was 57,000, up 29.8% from the previous year. Both export volume and export value reached record highs on a monthly basis.

Exports of hybrids, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen vehicles all increased significantly. Hybrids increased by 6% compared to the previous year, with 23,956 units exported, and electric vehicles surged by 63.1% to 27,223 units. By model, steady overseas demand for popular electric vehicle models such as Ioniq 5 and EV6 supported the growth. The start of U.S. exports of the new model Ioniq 6 also had an impact.

Monthly Export Volume/Export Value of Eco-friendly Vehicles (Passenger Cars) [Data=Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy]

As a result, the export value of eco-friendly vehicles exceeded $1.7 billion for two consecutive months. For the first time, the export value of eco-friendly vehicles accounted for more than 35% of the total export value. Electric and hydrogen vehicles recorded $1.06 billion, hybrids $570 million, and plug-in hybrids $170 million.

Meanwhile, the total automobile export value in January, including eco-friendly vehicles, reached $4.98 billion, a 21.9% increase compared to the previous year. This is the highest January export value ever recorded. The number of exported units increased by 11.3% to 201,000 units.

By passenger car model, the Avante was the most exported with 15,446 units. It was followed by the Trailblazer with 15,311 units, Kona with 12,633 units, Morning with 11,912 units, and Niro with 11,864 units.

In terms of export volume, Kia, Korea GM, and Ssangyong showed double-digit growth compared to the same month last year. Hyundai Motor's electric vehicle exports increased, but due to a decrease in sport utility vehicle (SUV) exports, overall growth was limited to 1.1%. Renault's exports decreased by 10.3% due to a decline in XM3 exports.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.