South Korea's automobile market has become the world's 12th largest in 2009, after seeing a 17.3 percent growth from the previous year, the Korea Automobile Manufacturers' Association (KAMA) said Tuesday.
A total of 1.46 million new vehicles were sold in South Korea last year, up from the previous year's 1.24 million vehicles, as South Korea's rank in the world market share for new vehicles also went up two spots from a year earlier, according to the KAMA.
The organization attributed the growth partly to the government' s active support for the local market, for example, tax incentives for replacing used vehicles.
China sold more than 13.6 million new units in 2009, a 50.8 percent growth from the previous year, to become the world's largest automobile market, surpassing the U.S. for the first time in history, the KAMA said.
The U.S. dropped to second as it sold 10.6 million new vehicles last year, a 21.4 percent decrease from the previous year, it added.
