Diesel Trend
The sales of both local and imported diesel vehicles are increasing rapidly. As more and more consumers are getting sensitive to the economics of fuel efficiency, the market share of diesel cars could soon exceed that of traditional gasoline engines, if this trend goes on.
According to the final automobile industry in Korea, the number of pre-contracted SM5 Diesel models, released on July 3 by Renault Samsung Motors, is currently 2,700. As consumers welcome the strong economic 16.5 km/liter based on compound fuel efficiency, orders are surging. However, due to the summer vacation season and labor union strikes, it is becoming hard to meet the demand.
Orders are also flooding in for the Grandeur Diesel from Hyundai Motors, from the first month of its release of June 23. 1,800 vehicles were sold during June, and an additional 2,800 were sold in July so far, which is one third of the total sales. The Chevrolet Malibu Diesel of GM Korea exceeded accumulative sales of 2,000 vehicles until last month. As orders are surging, GM Korea is only taking orders for the 2015 model now.
This diesel trend will expand even beyond the competition between imported and domestic cars. Despite the challenge from Korean automobiles, sales of diesel sedans continue to increase in the imported automobile market. According to the registration status of imported vehicles by fuel of the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, sales of diesel cars last month scored 12,062, a 44.5 percent increase from the same month last year. The sales share is 67.8 percent, over a 10 percentage point increase compared to last year’s 57.9 percent.
In domestic automobiles as well, the diesel portion is increasing very fast. According to the sales records of the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association during the first quarter of this year, the sales share of diesel cars is 43.5 percent of the entire automobile market, already exceeding gasoline (42.5 percent). Gasoline is only still ahead of diesel in the sedan market. In this market, however, the diesel share increased by 7.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year, showing a constant growing trend.