Seoul
South Korea’s passenger car exports experienced a significant drop in the third quarter of 2024, marking the first decline in over two years. The country’s automakers shipped cars worth $13.96 billion from July to September, a decrease of 4.7% compared to the same period last year, according to data released on Thursday.
This decline is the first year-on-year fall since Q1 2022 when exports decreased by 0.6%. In terms of volume, South Korea exported 590,000 vehicles, reflecting a 3% drop from the previous year.
The fall in exports is largely attributed to weak demand for eco-friendly vehicles, particularly electric cars in the European market. Sales of eco-friendly cars overall decreased by 1.27% to $5.42 billion, with electric vehicle sales plummeting by 44.4% to $2 billion. However, hybrid vehicle sales reached a record high of $3.01 billion during the same period.
Regionally, exports to the United States rose modestly by 1.2%, while car exports to Canada and Saudi Arabia surged by 30.2% and 5.2%, respectively. Conversely, demand decreased from Australia by 7.4%, and the UK and France saw sharper declines of 8.3% and 27.5%, respectively.
The average price of cars exported fell by 1.7% to $23,562, while import prices decreased by 10.7% to $40,711. Additionally, new automobile sales in South Korea dropped by over 8% in the first nine months of the year, attributed to high borrowing costs and a global slowdown in electric vehicle demand.
