S.Korea's new hybrid car registrations in May exceed diesel's for first time

The number of newly registered hybrid cars in South Korea overtook that of diesel cars for the first time thanks to consumer focus on such models, which require less charging, that accelerated the adoption of eco-friendly cars.

The Seoul-based Caris You Data Institute, releasing its analysis of new car registration data, on Sunday said 27,863 or 18.6% of last month’s 149,541 newly registered cars were hybrids, up 41.7% from May last year.  The increase was the highest among all vehicles by fuel type. 

The number of gas-powered cars, which accounted for the largest proportion with 50%, increased 2.3% to 74,768 units, while that of electric vehicles (EV), which accounted for 9.2%, dipped 0.2% to 13,785.

Diesel vehicles numbered 26,898, down 11.2% in just one year and accounting for 18% of new cars, six tenths of a percentage point lower than that of hybrid cars.  This is the first time for the monthly number of newly registered diesel cars to fall below that of hybrids.

“Due to fears over diesel fuel price instability and growing interest in eco-friendly vehicles, sales of diesel vehicles are declining,” an industry source said. “Many consumers still want to switch to eco-friendly cars, but hesitate about EVs because of the charging burden, so the strength of hybrid cars will continue for the time being.”

Industry analysts say diesel’s annual share of new registration could fall below 20% for the first time this year.  The figure plummeted from 47.9% in 2016 to 20.8% last year, while that of hybrids nearly quadrupled from 3.4% to 12.5%.

From January to May this year, the proportion of diesel cars continued falling to 18.7%, while that of hybrids rose to 15.9%.

Write to Nan-Sae Bin at binthere@hankyung.com