[Consumerwide - HueSoung Jun Reporter / Yohan Bok Reporter]  Last year, due to an environmental trend, the sales record of hybrid cars (new cars) exceeded that of diesel cars on an accumulated basis, which is the first case. It seems that consumers perceive hybrid and electric cars as environmentally friendly. (Diesel cars are known to emit more nitrogen oxides, and gasoline cars emit more CO2 emissions.) At the same time, consumers preferred small cars to light, medium cars to semi-medium, and SUVs. 1,752,375 new cars were registered in Korea last year, which is a 4% increase from a year prior, according to Carisyoudatalab, the Ministry of Land, Transportation, and Infrastructure, and the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association on January 5th.

1,507,592 passengers' cars were sold, which is a 4.3% increase from a year prior (1,445,757), whereas 244,783 commercial cars were sold, which is a 2.3% increase from a year prior. (239,271)

The hybrid car era... The sales record of hybrid cars exceeded that of diesel cars.

The biggest change was the sales record of cars that are considered environmentally friendly. In particular, hybrid car sales have climbed significantly—this is a first in the history of automobile sales volume. 309,164 hybrid cars were sold, which is a 46.3% increase from a year prior, while 308,798 diesel cars were sold, which is a 12% decrease from a year prior. In terms of market share, the records of diesel cars and hybrid cars were the same by 17.6%; however, hybrid cars exceeded diesel cars in sales records. The sales record of gasoline cars was 892,769, which is a 5% increase from a year prior, whereas 162,593 electric cars were sold, which is a 1.1% decrease from a year prior. In overseas car competition, the sales records of both hybrid cars and electric cars exceeded those of diesel cars by each recording 91,680 (hybrid), 26,572 (electric), and 22,354 (diesel), referring to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (excluding the sales record of Tesla, which is not a membership brand). The market share of hybrid vehicles was 33.8% (plug-in hybrids: 4.0%; 1,796 units), while that of electric and diesel vehicles was 9.8% and 8.2%, respectively. Concerning the trend in 2023, it's been predicted to have an even greater gap in sales between hybrid cars and diesel cars this year. The sales record of electric cars has to be watched over a period of time.

Consumers in their 50s led the sales record for new cars... The purchase of female customers has rapidly increased.

In the gender category, the sales record of male customers was 830,227, which was 70% of the total record, whereas the sales record of female customers was 356,437 (30%). Referring to a year prior, the sales record of female customers had increased by 7.8% and that of male customers by 9.1%. The largest customers in new car purchases were customers in their 50s amongst entire age groups last year, recording 336,021. The sales records of the rest of the age groups are as follows: in their 40s, 286,630; in their 30s, 221,693; in their 60s, 216,188; in their 20s, 77,766; and in their 70s, 48,366. Customers in their 30s and 60s were the major customer groups.

More customers preferred small than light, medium than semi-medium, and larger cars were in trend.

It's been found that more customers prefer larger cars for new car purchases, regardless of their low economy. More customers preferred small over light and medium over semi-medium.

In the car size category, the most selling cars were medium cars (414,460). The sales records for the rest of the classifications are: semi-medium (380,299), semi-large (246,397), large (205,462), small (136,894), and light (124,080). The sales record of semi-large has increased by 19.8% compared to a year prior, which was the biggest increase in terms of growth rate. The growth rates in the rest of the car size categories are as follows: small cars, 16.7%▲, medium cars, 6.7%▲, light cars, 7.6%▼, large cars, 3.4%▼, and semi-medium cars, 1.8%.

SUVs are continually in trend, whereas the sales record of pickup trucks has decreased rapidly.

SUVs were continually in trend last year. SUVs took the top spot by selling 802,974 units in the car classification category, which was a 9.3% increase from a year prior, and sedans sold 495,450 units, which ranked second. The growth rate of RV was the biggest compared to a year prior, by +21.5% (125,568). Pickup truck sales increased the least, by -38.7% (18,199).

In the brand category, Kia and BMW took the top spots in each domestic and overseas brand competition. It's been eight years since BMW took the top spot among overseas brands.