Demand for recreational vehicles and vans is on the rise in South Korea as consumers increasingly seek diversity, industry associations said Friday.

According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association and Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, of the 1,547,588 cars sold in the country last year, 25.5 percent, or 394,255, were in the RV class, such as sport utility vehicles and car-derived vans.

Numbers showed that local original equipment manufacturers such as Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. sold 293,506 SUVs including the Sante Fe and 665,000 CVDs like the Carnival minivan.

These figures represent 14.2 percent and 25.6 percent gains in 2013. The increase is noteworthy because combined domestic sales by the five South Korean OEMs dropped 2.1 percent on-year.

“Last year, people had to wait months to get a Sante Fe as many drivers are opting for change in the vehicles they drive while the households that already own a car want their second vehicle to be an RV,” a Hyundai dealer in Seoul said. He said this is in contrast to just a few years ago when most people wanted to drive conventional sedans. (Yonhap)