S. Korea’s passenger car export hits record high in Q2

South Korea’s passenger car export hit a record quarterly high in the second quarter on solid demand for eco-friendly vehicles, customs office data showed Monday.

Passenger car shipment jumped 46.4 percent from a year earlier to reach a new high of 16.62 billion U.S. dollars in the April-June quarter, according to Korea Customs Service.

It continued to grow for the fifth consecutive quarter since the second quarter of last year on the back of stronger demand for environmentally-friendly vehicles.

Outbound shipment of eco-friendly passenger vehicles soared 70.7 percent over the year to hit a fresh high of 6.31 billion dollars in the second quarter.

Import for foreign passenger cars advanced 32.9 percent to reach a new quarterly high of 4.58 billion dollars in the cited quarter.

The number of exported sedans spiked 33.3 percent from a year earlier to 730,000 in the second quarter, while the number of imported sedans gained 11.9 percent to 90,000.

The average export price for passenger vehicles expanded 9.8 percent to 22,841 dollars per unit in the cited quarter, while the average import price for foreign sedans increased 18.8 percent to 51,171 dollars. (BSS/Xinhua)