A citizen refuels their car at a gas station in Seoul on Nov. 11, 2022. The average price of diesel at the pump in South Korea came to 1,887.96 won per liter the same day, higher than that of the retail price of standard gasoline at 1,660.29 won per liter, according to data posted online by the Korea National Oil Corp. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Diesel vehicles are losing ground due to the rising popularity of eco-friendly vehicles and a hike in diesel prices.
The number of new diesel cars registered in the domestic market between January and October of this year stood at 288,888 units, down 21.6 percent year on year, according to the data by industry tracker CarIsYou Data Lab.
The share of diesel vehicles in the total number of new car registrations remained relatively low at 20.8 percent.
After standing at 872,890 units in 2016, the number of diesel car registrations slipped to 430,023 units last year, accounting for an estimated 25 percent of car registrations, down from 48 percent in 2016.
Excluding commercial vehicles, the number of new diesel passenger cars registered in the domestic market during the first ten months of this year stood at 151,307 units, down 32 percent from a year ago and 69 percent compared to the 2017 figure.
Even in light of the share of registration by usage fuel, diesel vehicles recorded a share of 13 percent, indicating that only one in ten new car buyers opted for diesel cars.
“The extinction of diesel cars is a natural course in the era of a shift towards electrification,” an industry official said.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
