Amid Strong Sales of German Brands
According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) on November 6, the number of newly registered foreign cars came to 16,833 in October, down 18.3 percent from a year ago. The figure also decreased 16.8 percent from September. KAIDA Vice Chairman Yoon Dae-sung said, “The imported car market in October shrunk from the previous month due to less business days caused by the 10-day Chuseok holiday.”
By brand, Mercedes-Benz took most of the market share for five months in a row, selling 4,5339 units, followed by BMW with 4,400 units, Toyota with 1,110, Land Rover with 940, Honda with 930, Lexus with 906, Ford with 756, Mini with 660, Volvo with 534, Chrysler with 513, Nissan with 467, Peugeot with 249, Infiniti with 223 and Jaguar with 213.
The BMW 520d ranked first in the best-selling model list for three consecutive months, selling 842 units in October, followed by the Honda Accord 2.4 with sales of 724 units and BMW 520d xDrive with 640. In particular, the cumulative sales of the BMW 520d in 2017 reached 6,472 units, surpassing 6,027 units of the Mercedes-Benz E 220d for the first time in 10 months.
By fuel, gasoline cars had a 49.7 percent market share, outstripping diesel cars with 39.7 percent by nearly a 10 percent margin for the first time in three months. Hybrid cars accounted for 10.3 percent of the total with 1,735 units, while electric vehicles took up a mere 0.3 percent. By country, European auto brands, including Germany, had a 70 percent market share, while Japanese car brands had a 21.6 percent market share, surpassing a 20 percent market share again. American auto brands accounted for 8.4 percent of the total market, showing a slight decrease from last month.