Seoul, May 5 (IANS): Sales of eco-friendly cars surpassed 100,000 units in the first quarter in South Korea on booming demand for hybrid vehicles, industry data showed on Sunday.

A total of 101,727 environment-friendly cars made by five South Korean carmakers, including Hyundai Motor and Kia, were sold during the January-March period, up 8.7 per cent from a year earlier, according to the data.

Out of this total, 85,828 units, or 84.4 per cent, were hybrid cars, soaring 42.4 per cent from the same period last year, reports Yonhap news agency.

Sales of electric vehicles, meanwhile, plunged 51.4 per cent on-year to 15,237 units in the first quarter.

There has been a global slowdown in EV sales.

Even Elon Musk has said that EV adoption rate globally is "under pressure" and a lot of other auto manufacturers are “pulling back on EVs and pursuing plug-in hybrids instead.”

By model, Kia's Sorento Hybrid was the best-selling model in the first quarter with 19,729 units sold, followed by Hyundai's Santa Fe Hybrid with 15,981 units and Kia's Carnival Hybrid with 12,203 units.