The number of newly registered cars in April of 2020 reached 2,945, an increase of 25.9 percent from the same period of 2019, said the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributions Association on May 7. It surpassed 20,000 in March for two consecutive months. Its year-on-year growth rate continued to double in April, following 12.3 percent in March.
In April of 2019, Audi and Volkswagen were unable to sell their cars due to an authentication issue but in the same month of this year, they increased sales with new models.
Also, sales of BMW cars shunned by consumers due to vehicle fires in 2019 were normalized in April. BMW, which ranked second in the actual sales rankings, sold 5,123 units in April, up 58.8 percent from the same period of 2019.
Audi took third place by selling 2,043 units, and Volkswagen fourth place with 1,345 units. The best-selling imported car brand of April was Mercedes-Benz with a total of 6,745 units sold, up 3.1 percent from a year earlier.
However, sales of Japanese imported car brands continued to decline in April. Their sales totaled 1,259, down 64.4 percent from the same period of 2019. Lexus (461 units) and Toyota (309 units) sales fell 68.3 percent and 62.8 percent respectively. Honda sales dropped 68.6 percent to 231 units, Nissan sales 34.2 percent to 202 units and Infiniti sales 73.5 percent to 56 units. Compared to March, only Lexus sales inflated 12.2 percent.
Meanwhile, in April, by imported car models, Volkswagen's Tiguan 2.0TDI sold 1,180 units, making itself the best-selling imported model of April. The Tiguan 2.0TDI was followed by the Mercedes CLA 250 4MATIC (706 units), the BMW 520 (687 units) and the Mercedes E300 4matic (673 units).