SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's automotive export rebounded in four months due to higher global demand for eco-friendly vehicles, government data showed Thursday.
Car shipment expanded 4.9 percent from a year earlier to 5.48 billion U.S. dollars in September, after sliding for the past three months, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
For the first nine months of this year, automotive export reached 52.92 billion dollars, up 1.6 percent compared to the same period of last year.
The number of exported vehicles was 205,574 in September, up 4.4 percent from a year earlier.
The export for eco-friendly sedans gained 12.3 percent to 1.96 billion dollars, but auto parts shipment shrank 6.6 percent to 1.81 billion dollars.
The number of vehicles, manufactured in local factories, rose 1.7 percent to 307,026 in September on a yearly basis.
The number of cars sold domestically, including locally-made and imported vehicles, stood at 130,685 in September, down 2.3 percent from a year earlier. ■