[Getty Images Bank]
[Getty Images Bank]

The total number of registered vehicles in South Korea reached 26.676 million as of the end of June, up 0.6 percent, or about 161,000 units, from the end of last year. Over the same period, eco-friendly vehicles surged more than 13 percent, with cumulative registrations climbing by about 3.49 million units, signaling a structural shift in the country's automotive landscape.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport released the vehicle registration data on Thursday. New registrations in the first half of this year totaled 857,000 units. Of those, 494,000 were eco-friendly vehicles — including electric, hydrogen and hybrid models — while electric vehicles alone accounted for 199,000 new registrations, or 23 percent of all new registrations in the period.

By vehicle type, passenger cars accounted for 758,000 new registrations, vans for 11,000, trucks for 85,000 and special-purpose vehicles for 3,000. By size, compact vehicles made up 42,000 registrations, small vehicles 79,000, mid-size 570,000 and large 166,000. By fuel type, gasoline vehicles led with 276,000 new registrations, followed by hybrids at 292,000, electric vehicles at 199,000, LPG at 63,000, diesel at 21,000, hydrogen at 3,000 and other types including trailers at 3,000.

On a cumulative basis, passenger cars totaled 22.216 million, vans 619,000, trucks 3.693 million and special-purpose vehicles 149,000. By size, compact vehicles numbered 2.191 million, small 3.196 million, mid-size 14.076 million and large 7.214 million. By fuel type, gasoline vehicles led at 12.355 million, followed by diesel at 8.359 million, LPG at 1.83 million, hybrid at 2.81 million, electric at 1.095 million, hydrogen at 47,000 and other types at 179,000.

Eco-friendly vehicles reached a cumulative total of 3.953 million registrations as of the end of the first half, up 13.1 percent — equivalent to about 3.494 million units — from the end of last year. Electric vehicles accounted for 1.095 million of those, representing 4.1 percent of all registered vehicles.

Internal combustion engine vehicles, by contrast, saw cumulative registrations fall to 22.544 million, down 1.3 percent, or about 297,000 units, from the end of last year. Diesel vehicles led the decline, dropping by 246,000 units.

"While total cumulative vehicle registrations rose just 0.6 percent from the end of last year, eco-friendly vehicles surged 13.1 percent over the same period, driving a clear shift in the market," said Bae So-myeong, head of the ministry's vehicle operations and insurance division. "We will continue to provide reliable, tailored statistics by closely analyzing data from this period of structural transition in the automotive market, in order to support the industry's development and help consumers make informed choices."


hss@heraldcorp.com