08-07-2025
Fewer young Koreans are buying new cars, report shows
About a quarter of new car registrations in the first half of this year were filed by people in their 20s and 30s, the lowest figure in the past decade, data provided by automobile information website showed Tuesday.
A total of 29,066 new cars were bought by 20-somethings during the first six months of this year, according to Car Is You, a website providing information about local and international car markets. This accounts for 5.7 percent of all new cars sold here in the same period.
The proportion of cars bouth by 20-somethings has been falling setadily since 2016, when it was 8.8 percent.
The percentage of new cars bought by Koreans in their 30s is on the verge of falling below the 20 percent-mark for the first time. They bought 99,611 new vehicles, which was just 19.5 percent of total new car sales. This figure stood at 25.9 percent in 2016 and has been steadily declining ever since.
More older people are buying new cars
Young people are increasingly opting not to own a car, but instead use a car-sharing platforms like SoCar. The platform in 2024 said the number of its members has surpassed 10 million mark, which is a little under one-third of every Korean who has a driver's license.
In 2023, 53 percent of all Socar users were in their 30s higher than the average age for all users was 32.9.
On the other hand, 18 percent of all new car purchases were made by drivers in their 60s in the first half, nearly doubling from 9.6 percent in 2016. The percentage of new cars bought by 70-somethings also rose in the same period, from 2.8 percent to 4.5 percent.
This trend is thought to have been fueld by the increasing number of senior citizens who are working beyond the legal retirement age of 60.
According to a Statistics Korea report in June, 7.05 million people aged 60 and up were employed in May this year, marking an all-time high. Compared to 3.96 million in 2016, the figure soared by over 3 million.
