South Korea’s Automobile Production in 2025

Automobile production in South Korea reached 4.1 million units in 2025, a 0.6% decrease from the previous year. Since exports account for the majority of production, there were concerns regarding the impact on output due to a decline in exports to the U.S. following the invocation of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act—U.S. tariff law based on national security—in April of that year. However, the overall decline was kept to a minimum. This was due to the relatively small scale of the drop in U.S. export volume (down 72,000 units, or 5.0%) and a slight 0.8% increase in domestic car sales—primarily electric vehicles—driven by the new administration’s economic measures. Production of electric vehicles rose significantly to 1.44 million units, a 19.8% year-on-year increase, fueled by strong HEV sales both domestically and in the U.S. As a result, the share of electric vehicles in total production rose to 35%."