Korea was the world's fifth largest car producer last year for a sixth year in a row.

According to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association on Tuesday, a record high 4.27 million vehicles were produced here in 2010, up 21.6 percent from the previous year. The figure accounts for some 5.5 percent of the world’s total production of 77.02 million vehicles last year.

The association attributed the rise here to a 29 percent increase in outbound shipments to major export destinations including China, India and the U.S., although sales of domestic cars here grew by a mere 5.1 percent.

China maintained its lead in the world ranking for a second consecutive year. Japan took second place, followed by the U.S. and Germany.