Small Ripples
The recent Volkswagen scandal has barely affected car sales in Korea. In the third quarter of this year, the imports of mid-size and large diesel vehicles from Germany, the type that came into question, increased in spite of the scandal.
The Korea Customs Service announced on Oct. 30 that Korea’s automobile imports increased by 14.6 percent from a year ago to US$2.412 billion in the third quarter of this year. The quarterly imports showed a significant increase in every segment except for that of mid-size gasoline cars with an engine displacement of more than 1,500 cc and 2,000 cc or less.
Specifically, the imports of compact diesel vehicles with an engine displacement of 1,500 cc or less added up to US$93.81 million by showing a year-on-year growth of 155.8 percent, the highest rate of increase of all, and mid-size diesel car imports, which account for approximately one-third of the total, amounted to US$745.33 million with a year-on-year increase of 23.5 percent.
In that period, the average unit import price of compact gasoline vehicles reached US$22,094 and exceeded that of mid-size gasoline cars at US$21,832, which has had few precedents.