In the first quarter, South Korea saw a decrease in its exports of eco-friendly automobiles for the first time. This is different from the previous 12 quarters’ pattern of year-over-year growth.
The Korea Automobile & Mobility Association (KAMA) reports that shipments of environmentally friendly cars decreased 5.6% year over year to 178,003 units in the January–March quarter from 188,607 units in the same time previous year.
Eco-friendly automobiles include plug-in hybrids, gasoline hybrids, electric vehicles powered by batteries, and hydrogen fuel cell cars, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Exports of gasoline hybrid models rose 5.5 per cent to 84,040 units in the first quarter from 79,624 a year ago, while combined shipments of three other models declined 14 per cent to 93,963 from 108,983 during the same period.
Global EV demand is expected to remain sluggish for the time being due mainly to potential fire risks and a lack of charging infrastructure.
Given battery electric vehicles account for a large portion of the country’s eco-friendly vehicle shipments, its overall eco-friendly car exports will likely fall further for the rest of the year, industry officials said.
Market tracker SNE Research projected that global EV registrations will fall 19 per cent on-year to 16.75 million units this year.