Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea announced today that Korea’s automobile exports for 2024 reached USD 70.8 billion, entering the $70 billion thresholds for the second year running. 

Marking the second highest export record following the $70.9 billion set in 2023, the achievement is attributable to the strong performance of eco-friendly vehicles driven by the sharp growth of hybrid cars (up 45.8 percent year-on-year to $11.3 billion) despite the slowing global demand for electric vehicles.

For the month of December 2024, automobile exports shrank 5.3 percent year-on-year to $6.0 billion as a consequence of safety inspections and parts manufacturing setbacks from the heavy November snow and unit export price falls from reduced EV exports. Meanwhile, overseas shipments of automobiles for the month of December rose to 251,847 units, continuing their strong upward trajectory.

Korea’s annual automobile production recorded 4,128,447 units (down 2.7 percent) in 2024, 67 percent (2,782,639 units) of which were sold to overseas markets.

Domestic sales in 2024 dropped 6.5 percent to 1,625,848 units as a result of dampened consumer confidence and weakened demand for EVs. However, the domestic sales of eco-friendly cars soared 18.2 percent to 650,122 units in 2024, four out of 10 newly sold cars being eco-friendly vehicles. Notably, hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) sales grew 32 percent year-on-year to 495,577 units, taking up 76 percent and 30 percent of Korea’s eco-friendly car sales and entire domestic car sales in 2024, respectively.