A view of the car export pier. yunhap news
South Korea has ranked 5th in the world for three consecutive years in terms of automobile production. According to the report titled “2022 World Automobile Production Status and Implications” released by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association on the 2nd, last year’s global automobile production was 84.97 million units, an increase of 5.4% from the previous year. Domestic production increased by 8.5% to 3.76 million units. After declining for six consecutive years from 2016, it returned to an upward trend in 2020 and maintained its fifth place in the world for three consecutive years. The first to third places were China, the United States, and Japan, which accounted for 52.8% of global automobile production. China has maintained its No. 1 position for 14 consecutive years. Chinese production reached 27.02 million units, up 3.6 percent on the back of a recovery in domestic demand. Exports also exceeded 3 million units for the first time. The United States increased by 9.4% to 10.02 million units. Japan fell 0.2% to 7.385 million units. Japan’s production has declined for four consecutive years. It is also the only country in the top 10 that produced less. The association explained, “In Japan, production has decreased due to the delay in the recovery of major automakers due to the continued shortage of semiconductor chips.” India maintained fourth place with 5.456 million units, up 24.1%. India ranked fourth in the world in 2021 with a 29.6% increase in production thanks to an increase in domestic sales. Domestic sales in India last year were 4.725 million units, up 25.7% from the previous year. It was analyzed as the result of the revival of suppressed demand and the resolution of the semiconductor supply shortage. Korea, Germany, and Mexico, which ranked 5th to 7th, had only 3 million units each. Production in sixth place Germany was 3.743 million units, an increase of 9.2%, escaping from negative growth for five consecutive years since 2017, and Mexico in seventh place increased by 10.8% to 3.47 million units. Followed by Brazil, Spain and Thailand in the 8th to 10th places. Of the total production, the production share of electric vehicles (including plug-in hybrids) was the highest in China at 26.1%, followed by Germany (25.4%), Spain (12.1%), and Korea (10.5%). Reporter Ahn Tae-ho [email protected]