In the domestic market in the first quarter of this year, new-car purchases by people in their 20s rose sharply from the same period last year. Analysts said that new-car purchases by people in their 20s, which had been declining every year, have increased this year due to government subsidies and company price cuts.
According to Kaizuyu Data Research Institute on the 12th, the number of new-car registrations by people in their 20s (passenger cars) in the first quarter of this year was 20,356, up 35.7% from 15,006 in the same period last year. It is the highest growth rate among all age groups.
Their share of total registrations was 7.5%. As the new-car registration share for people in their 20s fell to 5.6% last year, the lowest in 10 years, new-car purchases by people in their 20s had been declining every year.
In contrast, the number of new-car registrations by people in their 60s and 70s, which had been increasing every year, fell to 44,064 and 9,585, down 12.6% and 23.8%, respectively, from the same period last year.
Experts analyze that the increase in the number of new-car registrations by people in their 20s in the first quarter of this year is linked to a surge in electric-vehicle registrations during the same period. They said people in their 20s, who had avoided buying cars due to high prices and the spread of car-sharing culture, made large purchases of electric vehicles as subsidies and price cuts lowered entry barriers, which in turn drove an increase in overall electric-vehicle sales.
In the first quarter of this year, the number of electric-vehicle registrations by people in their 20s (passenger cars) was 4,605, a 228.5% surge from 1,402 in the same period last year. The share of electric vehicles in new-car registrations by people in their 20s also reached 22.6%, up 13.3 percentage points from 9.3% in the first quarter of last year. One out of four people in their 20s who bought a new car in the first quarter of this year chose an electric vehicle.
The number of new electric-vehicle registrations (including passenger and commercial) in the first quarter of this year was also 83,529, up 149.5% from the same period last year.
The analysis that lower electric-vehicle prices led to car purchases by people in their 20s is also borne out in the sales rankings by model. In the number of new-car registrations by people in their 20s (passenger cars), the Tesla Model Y (863 units) and Kia EV3 (751 units) ranked seventh and ninth in sales, respectively, and both models saw prices cut by up to 10 million won starting early this year.