South Korea’s car exports to the United States surpassed one million units this year for the first time in eight years.

According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), on Sunday, one-million-172-thousand-612 Korean vehicles were shipped to the United States during the first eleven months of the year.

This marks the largest figure since South Korea advanced into the U.S. market with Hyundai’s Excel in 1986.

The overall figure for the entire year is likely to rise further if the data for December is included.

Exports of South Korean automobiles exceeded the one million-mark for the first time since 2015, when it was one-million-66-thousand-164. Shipments peaked that year and declined to about 964-thousand in 2016.

After the launch of the Trump administration in January 2017, South Korea’s auto exports fell below 900-thousand units for five years due to U.S. protectionism. In 2021, after the outbreak of COVID-19, exports did not exceed 800-thousand.

However, Korean automakers, including Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors, found a way to export to the United States by quickly responding to the global shortage of semiconductors and parts amid the global supply chain crisis caused by the pandemic.