Slow Import Car Sales
The Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association announced on May 9 that a total of 17,845 imported cars were newly registered in South Korea last month, down 2.0% from a year ago and down 25.9% from a month ago. It added that the cumulative imported car sales volume for the first four months of this year totaled 73,844, down 4.3% from a year earlier.
BMW sold 4,040 cars in the country last month, followed by Mercedes Benz (3,558), Ford (979), Toyota (977), Volkswagen (784), etc. By engine displacement, less than 2,000 cc accounted for 53.6% (9,558) and 2,000 cc to 2,999 cc took up 38.4% (6,845) while 3,000 cc to 4,000 cc and at least 4,000 cc represented 4.7% (841) and 3.3% (581), respectively.
European cars took up 76.1% (13,586) of the monthly sales volume while the ratio was 15.2% (2,717) for Japanese cars and 8.6% (1,542) for U.S. cars. Diesel cars accounted for 63.5% (11,338), gasoline 28.5% (5,093) and hybrid 7.8% (1,394). During the same period, 20 imported electric vehicles were sold in the South Korean automobile market.
The best seller of the month was BMW 520d (742). It was followed by Audi A6 35 TDI (492) and Ford Explorer 2.3 (422).