Number of cars in Korea nears 21 million

By Choi Sung-jin

The number of motor vehicles increased at its fastest rate in 12 years to reach around 21 million last year, government officials said Monday.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, up to 872,000 cars were newly registered in 2015, pushing up the accumulated total to about 21 million, or one automobile per 2.46 citizens.

As of Dec. 31, the number of registered vehicles amounted to 20,989,885, up 4.3 percent from 2014 and the highest growth rate from 4.6 percent recorded in 2003. The steep increase last year was attributed to two factors, officials said -- individual consumption tax cuts and rising popularity of imported vehicles.

Newly registered cars last year increased 10.2 percent, 7.3 percent for Korean cars and 29.2 percent for foreign vehicles. The number of new imported cars registered last year soared 65,000 to 288,000. The share of foreign automobiles also has risen from 0.3 percent in 1994 to 1 percent in 2004, 3.4 percent in 2011 and to 6.6 percent last year, the ministry’s tally showed.

Out of about 21 million cars, 19.60 million, or 93.4 percent, were made in Korea with the other 1.39 million coming from abroad. “As the number of cars increases, the government will continue to step up its efforts to regulate them more efficiently to better protect consumers,” an official said.