Diesel Cars’ Share in Korea’s Auto Imports Likely to Fall below 30%

Sales of imported diesel cars have been on a steady decline since Audi Volkswagen's Dieselgate in 2015. Consumer distrust about imported diesel cars is explosively growing as a new dieselgate involving Mercedes-Benz recently broke out.

Sales of imported diesel cars reached 29,036 units in the first five months of this year, accounting for 28.8 percent of the total imported car sales in Korea, said the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KADA) on June 10. Gasoline vehicles accounted for 59.3 percent with 59,848 units, hybrids 10.5 percent with 10,631 units and electric cars 1.4 percent with 1,317 units.

If this trend holds, the proportion of diesel cars in imported car sales will fall below 30 percent this year. Diesel cars accounted for 27.3 percent in February, 27 percent in March, 27.2 percent in April and 27.5 percent in May. If the proportion of diesel cars falls below 30 percent annually in 2020, it will mark the first time in 10 years since 2010.

The percentage soared to 68.85 percent in 2015 after crossing the 30-percent mark for the first time in 2011.

However, the diesel car boom began to subside in 2015 when the Dieselgate broke out. The proportion of diesel cars fell to 58.72 percent in 2016, 47.16 percent in 2017, 41 percent in 2018, and 30.33 percent in 2019.

Under these circumstances, a recent dieselgate involving Mercedes-Benz is expected to lead increasingly more consumers to shun diesel cars this year. The Ministry of Environment imposed on June 6 a fine of 77.6 billion won on Mercedes-Benz for manipulating vehicle programs in 37,154 diesel cars, including the GLE350 d and GLC220 d models sold in Korea between 2012 and 2018. It also reported the case to the prosecution for investigation on the same day. The 77.6 billion won fine is the largest ever fine imposed by the Ministry of Environment on an automaker. It is more than five times the 14 billion won fine imposed during Audi Volkswagen's dieselgate in 2015. Prosecutors also immediately launched an investigation into the case and recently raided the headquarters of Mercedes-Benz Korea.