The imported car market in Korea which has been dominated by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Volkswagen, is in the midst of a fierce standings battle in the lead up to the end of 2023 so much attention is being paid to whether the market landscape will change. Mercedes-Benz, which has held the top spot for seven years since 2016, is having a tight race with BMW, the second-ranked carmaker by running narrowly ahead of BMW, while emerging powerhouses such as Volvo and Tesla have taken advantage of Volkswagen’s slump and are confronting Audi for third place.
BMW led the Korean imported car market in cumulative sales from January to November of this year with 69,546 units, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) and the CarIsYou Data Research Institute on Dec. 27. BMW was followed by Mercedes-Benz with 68,156 units, Audi with 16,650 units, Tesla with 15,439 units, and Volvo with 15,410 units. Sales of just 8,785 units during this period put Volkswagen in eighth place, behind Lexus and Porsche.
For BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the gap in their sales was around 1,400 units, so this month’s results will finally determine their standings. This is because Mercedes-Benz is aggressively discounting some models, such as the E-Class’s 10th generation models, ahead of the launch of 11th generation models in January of 2024. According to Mercedes-Benz, the 11th generation models will show the first complete change in eight years.
Tesla and Volvo, which overtook Audi in third place by about 1,200 units, are also gaining considerable momentum. Tesla’s sales performance has been driven by the arrival of its Chinese-built, competitively priced Model Y in South Korea this year. With 13,086 units sold in Korea through November, the Model Y ranked third in new car registrations by imported car model in Korea this year behind the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and the BMW 5 Series. For Volvo, its safety-oriented brand image has become a competitive advantage as interest in family cars has grown since COVID-19.
Volkswagen, on the other hand, dropped out of the top five, with sales down by about 33 percent from 13,113 units a year earlier. In January, the company suspended shipments of all models due to a safety triangle defect, which contributed to a plunge in its sales. In addition, the company failed to respond to the market because its lineup consisted mainly of diesel models while domestic consumers’ interest in eco-friendly vehicles such as electric vehicles and hybrids was on the uptick.