Owing to Volkswagen Scandal

South Korea imported a total of 132,279 diesel cars, down 21.2% from a year earlier while the sales volume of imported gasoline cars increased 16.1% to 76,284.
South Korea imported a total of 132,279 diesel cars, down 21.2% from a year earlier while the sales volume of imported gasoline cars increased 16.1% to 76,284.

 

The Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association announced on January 5 that 225,279 imported cars were registered in South Korea last year, down 7.6% from a year ago, to show a negative growth for the first time since 2009.

Volkswagen’s and Audi’s sales volumes plummeted by 63.2% and 48.6% to 13,178 and 16,718, respectively. On the contrary, that of Mercedes Benz increased 19.9% to 56,343 and that of BMW increased 1.2% to 48,459. They were followed by Audi, Volkswagen, Ford (11,220), Land Rover (10,601), Lexus (10,594), Toyota (9,265), Mini (8,632) and Honda (6,636). Citroen showed the highest rate of increase in sales volume (61.5%) last year, followed by Land Rover (47.8%), Honda (47.1%) and Lexus (33.2%). Mercedes Benz took the top spot for the first time since it started its business in South Korea in 2002.

Last year, South Korea imported a total of 132,279 diesel cars, down 21.2% from a year earlier. The sales volume of imported gasoline cars increased 16.1% to 76,284.

Last year’s best seller was BMW 520d, which was chosen by 7,910 customers. It was followed by Mercedes Benz E 300 (6,169), Lexus ES300h (6,112), Mercedes Benz E 220d (5,957) and BMW 320d (4,823). 

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