This year's eco-friendly vehicle exports already surpassed last year's full-year performance in the third quarter, marking a record high.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 18th the 'September 2023 automobile production, sales, and export trends.'

According to the announcement, domestic production in September 2023 recorded 301,799 units, down 1.9% year-over-year, while domestic sales recorded 133,709 units, down 4.7% compared to the same month last year. September 2023 export vehicles recorded 197,770 units, up 1.3% compared to the same month last year.


Domestic sales of eco-friendly vehicles recorded 42,621 units, up 2.3% year-over-year, eco-friendly vehicle exports recorded 53,801 units, up 10.6% compared to the same month last year, and export value recorded 1.74 billion dollars, up 23.3% year-over-year.

From January to September this year, eco-friendly vehicle exports (hybrid, electric, hydrogen, plug-in hybrid) recorded 18 billion dollars in export value, already surpassing last year's total eco-friendly vehicle export value of 16.1 billion dollars.

With continued favorable eco-friendly vehicle export trends centered on North America and the European Union, automobile exports through the third quarter recorded 52.1 billion dollars, marking a record-high level of performance, and showing growth for 15 consecutive months (compared to the same month last year).

The government has actively responded to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and as a result, commercial eco-friendly vehicles such as rental and leasing vehicles can now receive up to 7,500 dollars in subsidies regardless of North American assembly and battery requirements.

Leveraging this, our industry has expanded commercial eco-friendly vehicle sales in the United States. As a result, IRA-eligible eco-friendly vehicle (electric, hydrogen, plug-in hybrid) sales through September this year totaled 89,000 units, a +47% increase compared to the same period last year, surpassing last year's full-year sales of 74,000 units. Additionally, the proportion of commercial vehicles has expanded from approximately 5% last year to 44% from January to September this year.

September automobile production recorded 302,000 units. From September last year, production has maintained solid performance of over 300,000 units per month for 13 consecutive months. If this trend continues, an annual production of 4 million units is expected for the first time in 5 years since 2018. However, production in September decreased 1.9% compared to the same month last year, which appears to be due to the impact of partial strikes that occurred during wage and collective bargaining processes by major domestic complete vehicle manufacturers and parts industry.

In the September domestic market, 134,000 vehicles were sold, down 4.7% compared to the same month last year. While hybrid vehicle sales increased 46%, electric vehicle sales decreased 34%, resulting in overall eco-friendly vehicle sales increasing by approximately 2.3%. It is estimated that the deferral of purchases by electric vehicle demand segments due to expectations of an electric vehicle subsidy increase announced on September 25 affected September sales performance, and fourth quarter sales are expected to gradually recover.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the first private-public joint export expansion measures meeting chaired by Minister Bang Mun-kyu to discuss 'ASEAN electric vehicle export expansion plans' and other matters to maintain automobile export momentum. The government plans to strengthen necessary support through continued communication between the government and the automobile industry to resolve export difficulties going forward.