SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Auto production in South Korea posted a double-digit fall in January as working days declined on the Lunar New Year's holidays, a government report showed on Thursday.
Local carmakers manufactured 298,041 vehicles in the first month of this year, down 14.2 percent from a year ago, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The fall was attributed to fewer business days, caused by the Lunar New Year's holidays that fell in February last year.
The country's biggest automaker Hyundai Motor's production tumbled 27.2 percent, with those for three others posting a decline last month. Renault Samsung's auto production alone increased 4.8 percent.
Auto exports also dipped 10.1 percent from a year earlier to 179,395 units in January. In terms of value, the auto exports shed 4.8 percent to 2.86 billion U.S. dollars.
Domestic car sales inched up 0.2 percent to 123,575 units on solid demand for new models. South Korean car sales rose 1.2 percent to 106,261 units, while imported car sales declined 5.9 percent to 17,314 units.
