Korea’s eco-friendly car sales top 550,000 units for first time in 2023

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South Korea saw sales of eco-friendly cars top 550,000 units for the first time in 2023, driven by growing interest in green consumption and carbon-neutral policies, data showed Thursday.

According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the combined sales of domestic and imported eco-friendly cars, including hybrid, electric, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, totaled 558,112 units in 2023, up 24.3 percent from the previous year. It is the first time the annual sales figure have exceeded 500,000 units.

Sales of eco-friendly cars in Korea have been rising by over 100,000 units every year for the past three years, with 348,850 units in 2021 and 448,934 units in 2022.

When it comes to hybrid cars, domestic brands outpaced imported ones. The share of domestic vehicles in the entire hybrid vehicle sales rose from 61.2 percent in 2021 to 67.1 percent in 2022 and 71.7 percent in 2023.

This is attributable to the annual upgrading of models and the trend of domestic automakers shifting focus to eco-friendly vehicles.

In 2023, 162,507 electric vehicles were sold, about 2,000 units less than the previous year.

Imported EVs had accounted for 25.8 percent of the entire EV sales in 2021 but jumped to 29.2 percent in 2023. Domestic EVs, on the other hand, accounted for 70.8 percent in 2023, down from 74.2 percent in 2021.

Total car sales in Korea, in the meantime, stood at 1,749,729 units in 2023, up 3.9 percent from the previous year and the first rebound in two years.