A U T O     B U Z Z

One Out of Two Korean Vehicles Shipped to North America in 2002

Vehicles such as the Kia Sedona proved to be very successful in North America. Thanks to a vastly improved image in reliability and durability.

SEOUL - Shipments to North America accounted for close to 50 per cent of South Korea's total car exports last year, showing the nation's escalating dependence on the North American market, the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association said Wednesday.

Local carmakers exported 1,509,546 vehicles during last year with those to North America making up 49.7 per cent of the total.

Their entire revenue from car sales during the preceding year amounted to US$13.74 billion. They raked in US$7.68 billion, or 55.9 per cent of the total from its exports to North America.

In particular, shipments to the United States made up 41.7 per cent of the total numbers, earning US$6.75 billion.

The ratio of the North American market in car exports was 18.7 per cent in 1998, but jumped to 30 per cent in 1999 and has surged each year since, such as 39.3 per cent in 2000 and 46.3 per cent in 2001.

That for the Western Europe market peaked at 33.9 per cent in 1998 and 33.4 in 1999, but declined in 2000 to 29.4 per cent, overtaken by the United States. The ratio fell further to 28.4 per cent in 2001 and 26.3 last year.

North America became the focus of South Korea's vehicle exports, which may be considered positive in terms of mounting local car sales in the hard-fought field of automakers, but the excessive concentration is not desirable, experts said.

Meanwhile, the nation's car export ratio to other regions except North America and Western Europe comprises 5.5 per cent in Central and Latin America, 5.1 per cent in the Middle East, 3.6 per cent in Pacific area, 3.5 per cent in Africa and 3.1 per cent in Asia and Eastern Europe each.

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