South Korea on Tuesday finalized a five-year plan for the eco-friendly auto industry, which includes expanding exports of such automobiles by threefold by 2025.

The country's exports of eco-friendly cars, which includes electric and hydrogen fuel cell models, will reach 830,000 units in 2025, significantly rising from 280,000 units tallied in 2020, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

South Korea shipped $37.4 billion worth of automobiles in 2020, down 13.1 percent on-year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Exports of electric cars, on the other hand, shot up 39.9 percent to $4.6 billion.

Exports of eco-friendly cars have grown by more than threefold over the past five years. They will take up a whopping 35 percent of the total automobile exports in 2025, rising sharply from 14.6 percent last year.

In the past five years, the accumulated sales of such models have jumped from 240,000 units to 820,000 units.

Last year, South Korea was the world's fourth-largest exporter of electric cars and the world's top producer of hydrogen fuel cell models. (Yonhap)