Import Cars
The sales of imported cars went rather slow in Korea last month. However, the explosive uptrend continued all in all.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA), a total of 15,314 imported cars were newly registered in May this year to record an 8.4 percent decline from a month ago. The monthly figure, which was 13,852 in February, continued to increase in March and April. The number reached 16,712 in April to record a new high in history. “The 8.4 percent drop can be attributed to the shortage of inventory on the part of some importers and the less business days due to the May holiday season,” said KAIDA senior managing director Yoon Dae-sung.
Nevertheless, the sales volume showed a 14.2 percent increase when compared to the same period of last year. The cumulative sell-through for the first five months of this year amounted to 76,460, 23.9 percent higher than a year earlier.
Last month, a total of 3,212 BMWs were newly registered in Korea, followed by Volkswagen (2,690), Mercedes Benz (2,479), Audi (2,047), Ford (671), Mini (601), Toyota (581) and Lexus (505).
By country, European models topped the list with the total of 12,534 (81.8 percent) while Japanese (1,736, 11.3 percent) and U.S. (1,044, 6.8 percent) followed them. By fuel type, diesel cars (10,275, 67.1 percent) were on top of the chart, followed by gasoline (4,392, 28.7 percent), hybrid (640, 4.2 percent) and electric (seven, 0.0 percent).