Eco-friendly cars account for half of new car registrations in S. Korea in H1
Seoul, July 12
Eco-friendly vehicles accounted for half of new car registrations in South Korea in the first half of this year, driven by a sharp increase in electric vehicle sales, an auto market tracker said on Sunday.
It marked the first time that eco-friendly vehicles made up more than half of new car registrations during the January-June period, according to the CarIsYou Data Research Center, which cited government data, reports Yonhap news agency.
In the first six months of the year, registrations of eco-friendly vehicles -- including battery electric, gasoline hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell models -- totalled 429,163 units, accounting for 50.4 percent of the 851,833 newly registered vehicles, the data showed.
The share of eco-friendly vehicles has risen steadily, from 9.1 percent in 2020 to 25.5 percent in 2023 and 38.5 percent in 2025.
Meanwhile, the share of gasoline-powered vehicles fell to 39 percent in the first half, dropping below the 40 percent mark for the first time since 2016, when the figure stood at 39.9 percent.
Robust EV sales drove the overall increase in eco-friendly vehicle registrations.
EV registrations surged 112.6 percent from a year earlier to 198,969 units in the first half, making EVs the only major power train category to post on-year growth.
"An expanded lineup of new models and the early disbursement of government EV subsidies have helped eco-friendly vehicles become mainstream in the domestic auto market," an industry official said.
US electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla was the best-selling imported passenger car brand in South Korea in the first half of this year, capturing 30 per cent of the market.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA), 184,032 imported passenger cars were newly registered in the January-June period, up 33.2 percent from a year earlier.
Tesla topped the list with 56,139 units, accounting for 30.5 percent of total imports.
Its market share surged from 13.9 percent a year earlier, while sales soared 192 percent, allowing the U.S. EV maker to overtake German luxury brands.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Impressive numbers, but let's not forget the environmental cost of battery production and disposal. Also, India's power grid is still heavily coal-dependent—so electric cars here aren't as 'green' as they seem. We need a holistic approach, not just copying Korea.
Good for Korea, but our Indian roads and traffic are different. Electric scooters and rickshaws make more sense here than big Teslas. Plus, where will we charge them in tier-2 cities? We should focus on hybrid and CNG for now, and slowly move to EVs.
It's amazing to see Tesla doing so well in Korea. But I wonder how sustainable this growth is—subsidies won't last forever. In India, we need to make EVs affordable for the common man, not just luxury buyers. The real challenge is mass adoption.
This is a wake-up call for Indian automakers. We're still stuck pushing petrol cars while the world is moving on. The government should incentivize local EV production and battery recycling. Otherwise, we'll be left behind like we were with semiconductors.
It's a positive step for the environment, but I hope Korea's grid is clean enough to make these cars truly eco-friendly. In India, we have a long way to go—charging stations are still rare in smaller towns. Let's learn from their model but adapt it to our reality.
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