[Courtesy of Kia]
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Aju News) -- Struck hard by slow sales at home and abroad, especially in the United States, South Korea's car production regressed for two years in a row, industry data showed Monday.
According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturing Association's (KAMA), South Korea's total auto production was down 2.7 percent on-year to 41.1 million in 2017. In terms of production, South Korea stood 6th in the world with Mexico on its heels with 40.6 million units.
KAMA said that production was affected by internal factors such as an individual consumption tax and rising household debts. "There also was a setback caused by strikes in some companies," a KAMA official told Aju News.
KAMA has released a gloomy outlook for South Korea's auto industry. "Our prospect for this year remains the same as one released at the end of 2017," a KAMA official said.
The association predicted domestic car sales would fall 1.9 percent on-year to 1.5 million units, citing market uncertainties and rising household debts while overseas sales for 2018 will fall 1.5 percent to 2.5 million units, affected by the strengthened competitiveness of Japanese cars.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
