SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's passenger car export fell in 2018 after growing in the previous year, customs office data showed Wednesday.
Passenger car export reduced 1.8 percent over the year to 37.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, after gaining 4.5 percent in the prior year, according to Korea Customs Service.
The number of passenger cars exported in 2018 was 2.47 million, down 2.8 percent from a year earlier.
Exports to Canada, Russia and Italy increased, but those to the United States, Germany and Australia declined last year.
Passenger car import jumped 15.9 percent to 11.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 on solid demand for German luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
Import of German passenger cars picked up 19.9 percent, and those for U.S. and Japanese brands grew 11 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.
