Eco-friendly cars' sales cross 100,000 in South Korea in Q1

Sales of eco-friendly cars surpassed 100,000 units in the first quarter in South Korea on booming demand for hybrid vehicles, industry data showed on Sunday.

A total of 101,727 environment-friendly cars made by five South Korean carmakers, including Hyundai Motor and Kia, were sold during the January-March period, up 8.7% from a year earlier, according to the data.

Out of this total, 85,828 units, or 84.4%, were hybrid cars, soaring 42.4% from the same period last year, reports Yonhap news agency.

Sales of electric vehicles, meanwhile, plunged 51.4% on-year to 15,237 units in the first quarter.

There has been a global slowdown in EV sales.

Even Elon Musk has said that EV adoption rate globally is "under pressure" and a lot of other auto manufacturers are "pulling back on EVs and pursuing plug-in hybrids instead."

By model, Kia's Sorento Hybrid was the best-selling model in the first quarter with 19,729 units sold, followed by Hyundai's Santa Fe Hybrid with 15,981 units and Kia's Carnival Hybrid with 12,203 units.