Source: economic Daily
Original title: "Korean car exports hit a new high"
RecentlyIdwgamessonicthehedgehogcrashcourseThe Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources of South Korea released data showing thatIdwgamessonicthehedgehogcrashcourseIn April, South Korean car exports totaled US $6.8 billion, setting a new record in a single month after five months. In the first four months of this year, South Korean car exports increased by 4% compared with the same period last year.Idwgamessonicthehedgehogcrashcourse.7%, to 24.3 billion US dollars, also set a new high for the same period in the previous year. South Korea's Ministry of Industry said this was mainly due to hot sales of models from manufacturers such as Hyundai in the North American market.
Some analysts believe that the consumption downgrade and exchange rate factors are the two major driving forces to promote the popularity of Korean cars in the North American market. On the one hand, under the influence of high inflation and high interest rates, American consumers tend to buy affordable models. Compared with Japanese cars, Korean cars have a higher performance-to-price ratio, and the same price can buy a class of models higher than other manufacturers, which is more attractive to family cars. On the other hand, the weakening exchange rate of the South Korean won against the US dollar is also good for South Korean car exports.
In the subdivision field, pure electric vehicles further cool down, hybrid vehicles occupy the upper hand, and become the main force driving South Korean car exports. In April this year, South Korea exported 10% of hybrid cars.Idwgamessonicthehedgehogcrashcourse60 million US dollars, an increase of 55 percent over the same period last year. Hyundai Motor Global Chief operating Officer Jose Munoz said recently that the company's electric car plant in Georgia will increase the production of hybrid vehicles.
However, the cooling of trams does not mean that the South Korean auto industry will return to the route of traditional oil cars. In March, Hyundai announced that it would redouble its efforts as other established carmakers slow their electrification, investing $51 billion in South Korea over three years on new R & D infrastructure and electric vehicle assembly lines.
As South Korean exports continue to recover, the South Korean economy is also rebounding rapidly. In the first quarter of this year, South Korea's GDP grew 1.3 per cent from the previous quarter, far better than the 0.6 per cent expected by economists. South Korea's Ministry of Finance believes that this year's annual growth rate is likely to exceed the previous forecast of 2.2% and the Bank of Korea's forecast of 2.1%.
However, there are still downside risks to South Korea's economic growth. Credit concerns remain in South Korea as property developers accumulate large amounts of debt during the construction boom during the epidemic. The exchange rate is also a headache, as a country that is highly dependent on imported energy and raw materials, a further devaluation of the South Korean won will increase the pressure on import costs. "this is both good and bad for exporters, but generally increases uncertainty," said South Korean economists. While the rise in the dollar against the South Korean won helps expand the income of exporters in local currency terms, companies that rely on overseas manufacturing are increasingly burdened because most of their debt is in foreign currencies.