Popularity of Diesel Cars Still High in South Korean Car Market

The Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) announced on June 7 that diesel vehicles accounted for 62.9% of imported cars newly registered in South Korea last month, when the total number of new registrations increased by 5.9% from a year ago to 19,470. The ratio is a 29-month low.

Last month, the total sales volume of imported cars increased 9.1% from a month earlier. During the first five months of this year, a total of 93,314 imported cars were registered in the country, down 2.3% from a year ago.

The best seller of last month was the Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI Bluemotion (769 units sold). It was followed by the BMW 520d (707) and the BMW 520d xdrive (611). Nine out of the 10 best sellers were diesel cars and the Honda Accord 2.4 (522), which ranked fifth, was the only gasoline car on the top 10 list.

In that month, 4,651 BMWs were newly registered and the number was 3,148 for Mercedes Benz, 2,336 for Audi, 2,326 for Volkswagen, 932 for Land Rover, 854 for Ford, 756 for Honda and 748 for Mini. The KAIDA explained that the ratio of diesel vehicles is likely to continue to decline for the time being as manufacturers are focusing on green cars instead of diesel.