South Korea retained its position as the world’s fifth largest automobile producer last year for the eighth year in a row behind China, the United States, Japan and Germany, a local industry group said Monday.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and four other local automakers produced a combined 4.56 million units in 2012, compared with 4.66 million vehicles produced a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.

South Korea’s output accounted for 5.4 percent of a total of 84.70 million vehicles produced in 10 countries around the world, KAMA said.

Output by Chinese and foreign carmakers in China jumped 4.6 percent on-year to 19.27 million units in the latest sign that production of cars in the world’s largest auto market is increasing, according to the association.

China, home to plants of top foreign automakers, including Hyundai, Toyota Motor Co., BMW and General Motors Co., has been keeping the top spot since 2009 when it supplanted Japan as the world’s largest auto producer.

China is followed by the U.S. with 10.33 million units, Japan with 9.94 million vehicles and Germany with 5.65 million units.

India took sixth place in the global production of cars with 4.14 million vehicles, followed by Brazil with 3.34 million units, according to KAMA. (Yonhap News)