Largest Sales Ever
BMW sold the largest number of imported vehicles in Korea last year to beat its top rival and fellow German carmaker Mercedes Benz by a narrow margin. Volkswagen ranked third despite the emissions scandal occurring in the second half of 2015 and Audi came in fourth.
According to the annual imported car sales data of 2015 from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association on Jan. 7, BMW sold a total of 47,877 vehicles to nab first place, followed by Mercedes Benz, which sold 46,994 units. Volkswagen came in at third with 35,778 units, while Audi took fourth place, selling 32,538 cars, followed by Ford with 10,358 units, Lexus with 7,956 units, Toyota with 7,825 units, MINI with 7,501 units, Land Rover with 7,171 units and Peugeot with 7,000 units.
In the domestic market, a total of 243,900 imported cars were sold in 2015, a 24.2 percent increase from 196,359 units a year earlier. Volkswagen’s Tiguan 2.0 TDI BlueMotion became the best-selling imported car last year with 9,467 units sold. Audi’s A6 35 TDI was second with 7,049 units, followed by BMW’s 520d with 6,640 units. Volkswagen’s Golf ranked fourth with 6,212 units sold.
By the type of purchase, 148,589 units, or 60.9 percent, out of 243,900 vehicles were purchased by individuals. The remaining 95,311 units, or 39.1 percent, were bought by companies. Meanwhile, the new registration number of imported cars amounted to 24,366 in December last year, up 6 percent from the previous month.