SEOUL, July 31 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s passenger car export hit a record high in the second quarter due to strong demand from North America, customs office data showed Wednesday.
Passenger car shipment grew 6.8 percent from a year earlier to reach a new quarterly high of 17.8 billion U.S. dollars in the April-June quarter, according to Korea Customs Service.
It continued to increase for the ninth consecutive quarter on solid demand from the North American region.
Demand from the United States and Canada for locally-made passenger cars jumped 33.2 percent and 14.6 percent each, but demand from Germany and France retreated in double digits.
Outbound shipment for gasoline sedans led the record passenger car export, but shipment for eco-friendly vehicles inched down 0.6 percent in the cited quarter.
Import for foreign passenger cars diminished 25.3 percent over the year to 3.4 billion dollars in the second quarter, keeping a downward trend for the fourth successive quarter.
The number of exported sedans gained 5.7 percent from a year earlier to 770,000 in the second quarter, while the number of imported sedans declined 3.4 percent to 90,000.
The average export price for passenger vehicles added 1.1 percent to 23,097 dollars per unit in the second quarter, but the average import price for foreign sedans decreased 22.7 percent to 39,595 dollars.
