LPG car sales increased by more than 20% in just one year after regulations were lifted to sell liquefied petroleum gas and LPG vehicles to the public.

LPG cars seem to be gaining popularity, mainly for consumers who value performance compared to gasoline cars and diesel cars, as they are cheaper to maintain, such as factory prices and fuel costs.

The Korea Automobile Industry Association reported that LPG vehicles sold for a year from March last year to February this year totaled 13,131 units, a 20.1% increase from the 11,137 units sold in the previous year.

The government has allowed LPG cars to be sold to the public since March last year.

Before that, LPG vehicles were only allowed to businesses such as taxis and car rentals, to the disabled, and to national merit.

When diesel vehicles were identified as a source of fine dust pollution, the regulation that had been tied for more than 30 years was released to expand the supply of LPG vehicles with little particulate emissions.

The most sold LPG vehicle in the year after deregulation was Hyundai's Sonata, with 4,840 units sold.

Sonata LPG models have been sold a lot for taxis, but Hyundai introduced the 8th generation Sonata in April last year, but did not release taxi models.

Most of the 16,686 8th-generation Sonata LPG vehicle models sold in April-February this year were purchased by car rental companies or the public.

Renault Samsung Motors QM6, the first SUV LPG model in Korea, occupied the second place in sales.

QM6 started selling in June last year, and 2,138 units have been sold for nine months until February of this year.

Then, Kia Motors K5 was 15,413 cars, Renault Samsung SM6 7,465 cars, and Kia Car Bongo 469 cars.

In the case of the Bongo LPG model, sales increased by almost 9 times over 458 units sold in the previous year.

Bongo is the only LPG model among domestic 1-ton trucks, and it is analyzed that sales of the subsidies can be supported up to 5.56 million won by scrapping old diesel vehicles and buying 1-ton LPG trucks.