South Korea emerged as the world's fifth-largest car manufacturing nation in 2005, up one notch from the previous year, according to a local industry association on Wednesday.

South Korean carmakers produced 3.7 million units last year, up 6.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the (South) Korea Automotive Manufacturers Association.

The figure accounts for 5.6 percent of the world's total output of 66.3 million units last year, up 0.3 percentage point from 2004, the association said.

The association attributed the increase of South Korea's production of autos to their enhanced quality and images, which help South Korean produced cars maintain brisk exports.

While, the association also said China, which overtook South Korea in car production in 2002, ranked fourth with 5.7 million units last year, up 12.6 percent the previous year.

The United States, which has been the global leader since 1994, produced 11.9 million units last year. Japan and Germany made 10.8 million units and 5.8 million units, respectively.

France came sixth, turning out 3.5 million units, followed by Spain, Canada, Brazil and Britain, the association said.

Source: Xinhua