Five months since last September… Production, highest since October 2018
In January this year, the domestic automobile industry achieved a’triple increase’ in the fields of production, domestic demand, and export.
According to the’Monthly Trends in the Automobile Industry for January 2021,’ released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on the 15th, automobile production increased 24.9%, domestic demand 18.4%, and exports 29.5% compared to the same period last month.
Production, domestic demand, and exports have all grown in five months since September last year.
First of all, automobile production last month recorded 31,190 units, an increase of 24.9% from the same period last year. This growth rate is the highest since October 2018.
This increase in production can be interpreted as being affected by the normalization of production following the conclusion of wages and collective agreements (three-tier agreements) and the expansion of supply due to strong demand, such as increased domestic demand and exports.
Last month, domestic automobile sales were totaled 137692 units. The effect of new cars such as’Grandeur’,’Tucson’ and’Carnival’ continued, the individual consumption tax was extended by 30%, and the number of business days increased by 2 days, up 18.4% year-on-year.
Domestic cars ranked top 5 in the order of △Grandeur (8081) △Carnival (8043) △Sorento (7480) △Tucson (6730) △Avante (6552).
Automobile exports recorded a total of 190,2322 units thanks to the gradual recovery of global automobile demand following the resumption of economic activities in major markets such as the US and Europe.
By car type, exports of all car types except light cars increased. In particular, the number of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) exported increased by 37.7%, and the share of total exports also increased by 3.7 percentage points (p) to 71.7%.
The export value continued to rise due to the high added value of export items, reaching 4 billion dollars (about 4.41 trillion won), an increase of 40.2% compared to the same period of the previous year, and an increase of 29.5%.
Exports by region showed growth in most markets except the Middle East (-24.9%) such as North America (40.2%), European Union (EU 71.7%), Eastern Europe (54.9%), Oceania (64.8%) and Asia (42.0%).
In particular, the growth rate last month was the highest since September 2017. This growth rate is analyzed to be attributable to the increase in exports of’Palisade’ (75.2%) and the increase in added value due to the full-scale export of’Santa Fe Hybrid’ and’GV80′.
In the case of eco-friendly cars, domestic sales were 19,792 units, up 126.4% from the same period last year, showing growth for 12 consecutive months.
Exports of eco-friendly cars increased 76.5% year-on-year to 32,035 units, and exports reached a record high of $900 million (about KRW 1 trillion). The share of total exports was about 25%.
Auto parts exports increased by 3.9% to $1.81 billion (about KRW 2 trillion) due to strong SUV sales in the North American market, maintaining an increase for the third consecutive month.
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