The number of small cars sold here in the first seven months of the year rose 15 percent from a year ago as fuel price-conscious drivers opted for small cars with good fuel efficiency, industry data showed Tuesday.

A total of 124,440 units of mini cars with a less than 1.0-liter engine were sold in Korea during the January-July period, up 15 percent on-year from 108,204 units last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA).

There are three city car models available in South Korea -- the Chevrolet Spark of GM Korea Co., and the Ray and the Morning of Kia Motors Corp.

The data came as overall domestic sales of passenger cars fell 5.2 percent on-year to 675,640 units over the same seven-month period.

The Morning was the second-best selling car in the period with 55,603 units sold, following the mid-size Avante of Hyundai Motor Co. with 64,651 units.

GM Korea's Spark ranked sixth with 38,491 units sold, and the Ray came next with 30,346 units.

Market watchers said that the soaring oil prices fueled the sales increase of small cars that have better fuel efficiency. Gasoline prices at the pump in South Korea topped a record 2,000 won ($1.76) per liter in April and have been hovering around 1,950 won for months.

Sales of large-size sedans, however, slumped 25.5 percent on-year to 98,202 vehicles over the same period, while sales of mid-size cars edged up 0.9 percent to 139,176 units, according to the KAMA data. (Yonhap)