Hybrid Tops Gasoline for the First Time in the Imported Car Market in Q1

In the first quarter of this year, the sales volume of hybrid cars in the domestic imported car market surpassed that of gasoline cars for the first time. This is due to the steady demand for eco-friendly vehicles amid a slowdown in electric vehicle demand, which has increased the popularity of hybrids.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) on the 15th, among newly registered imported cars in the first quarter of this year, hybrids (including mild hybrids) accounted for 47.5%, surpassing the gasoline car share (28%) for the first time. The hybrid car share increased by 16.1 percentage points compared to the first quarter of last year, while the gasoline car share decreased by 21 percentage points.

Lexus Hybrid Car ES300h
[Photo by Lexus Official Website]

It is the first time in nine years since the first quarter of 2015 (27%) that the gasoline car share in total imported car sales in the first quarter fell below 30%. Moreover, this is the first time that hybrids have taken the number one spot.

The third highest share after hybrids and gasoline cars was electric vehicles (18.8%). The fourth was plug-in hybrids (3.1%), and the fifth was diesel (2.6%).

The number of newly registered imported electric vehicles in the first quarter of this year was 10,237, an increase of 5,384 units compared to the first quarter of last year. This is also the first time that the number of newly registered electric vehicles in the first quarter has exceeded 10,000 units.

The best-selling electric vehicle in the first quarter was Tesla's Model Y (6,012 units). Next were BMW's i5 (522 units) and BMW iX3 (443 units), respectively.