The number of vehicles registered in South Korea grew significantly from a year earlier last year with the total expected to top 20 million in early 2015, the government said Thursday.

As of the end of 2013, the number of registered vehicles came to 19,400,864, up 2.8 percent from 18,870,533 at the end of 2012, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

“Such a rise comes partly from an increase in sales of new cars on the release of new vehicle models and growing popularity of imported vehicles,” it said in a press release.

It is also the first time in three years that the number of vehicles in the country grew by over 500,000 units.

“The number is expected to breach the 20 million mark in the first half of 2015,” the ministry said.(Yonhap News)