Imported Car Sales Drop in May
While the imported car market in Korea has been sluggish, imported passenger car registrations fell in May. The Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association said on June 5 that the number of imported passenger cars newly registered in May totaled 19,548, a 16.7 percent drop compared with the previous year. Yet it represented a 7.3 percent increase from the previous month. Cumulative new registrations during the first five months of this year totaled 89,928, down 23.0 percent from the same period last year.
By brand, Mercedes-Benz kept its No. 1 spot with 6,092 units, which amounted to 31.1 percent of the imported car market in Korea. It was followed by BMW (3,383 units), Lexus (1,431), Toyota (1,269), Honda (1,210) and Mini (1,008).
Sales figures for other foreign car brands were 932 units for Volvo, 898 for Ford, 770 for Jeep, 673 for Volkswagen, 443 for Land Rover, 299 for Nissan, 267 for Peugeot, 210 for Porsche, 206 for Infiniti, 156 for Jaguar, 134 for Cadillac, 93 for Maserati, 50 for Citroen 12 for Rolls Royce, seven for Bentley, and five for Lamborghini.
Imported passenger cars recorded a market share of 14.9 percent in May, while their market share for the first five months of this year was 14.7 percent. The best-seller in May was the Benz E300 with 1,487 units, followed by the E300 4 Matic with 877 units. The Lexus ES300h placed third and the Volkswagen Arteon 2.0 TDI picked up fourth place.