Mercedes-Benz and BMW Place 3rd and 4th in Korean Automobile Market

Imported car sales in April rose 11.5 percent on year in the Korean automobile market. The best-selling imported car brand was Mercedes-Benz, followed by BMW at second place. In particular, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which do not manufacture cars in Korea, sold more cars than GM Korea, Renault Samsung and SsangYong Motor, the three foreign-owned carmakers with production plants in Korea.

A total of 25,578 imported passenger cars were sold in the domestic auto market in April. The figure represents a year-on-year increase of 11.5 percent. Total sales between January and April 2021 jumped 25.6 percent to 97,486 units compared to the same period of 2020.

Polarization by brands also intensified. Also in April 2021, Mercedes-Benz remained the king. The German carmaker sold a total of 8,430 units in April, enjoying a 32.96 percent new model market share. The figure was an increase of 25 percentage points compared to the same month of 2020.

BMW also sold 6,113 units, up 19.3 percent from 2020, but the figure was 2,300 units fewer than that of Mercedes-Benz. In April 2020, Mercedes-Benz's market share was 29.4 percent and BMW's 22.33 percent as the former outsold the latter by about 1,600 units. This means that their gap widened during this period.

The trend of lopsidedness toward Mercedes-Benz and BMW cars has become even stronger. The two brands enjoyed a combined market share of about 57 percent. In comparison, Audi once called one of the three hot German carmakers in Korea, sold only 1,320 units in April. Although Audi placed third in terms of new car market shares, its market share stood at only 5.16 percent.

The best-selling imported model in April was the Mercedes-Benz E-Class which logged 3,174 units in sales. Except for the BMW 5 Series which ranked second, Mercedes-Benz cars took both first and third place. The Benz S-Class which costs more than 100 million won came in fourth. Korea already has become the best-selling country after the United States and China, and has emerged as a market for luxury sedans. The S-Class has become more popular in Korea than in its homeland of Germany. So far, 66,789 units of the model have been sold since its official launch in Korea.

Tesla which ranked third in the sales rankings in March failed to enter the sales rankings as all imported Tesla cars were sold out.

Eco-friendly imported cars continued to enjoy strong sales. Diesel cars continued to feel their presence decreasing. Sales of imported new hybrid and PHEV models more than tripled from 2020.

Imported diesel cars sold 3,638 units, down 41.8 percent from a year before. Imported gasoline car sales hit 12,537 units, down 8.6 percent, too. Consumers who want to use expensive imported models for a long time are increasingly reluctant to purchase imported purely internal combustion engine models in consideration of the government's environmental regulations.

During the same period, 7,082 units of imported hybrids were sold, up 234.1 percent over the same period. Their sales figure is nearly twice that of imported diesel cars. Imported PHEV sales rose 246.3 percent to 1811 units. Sales of imported electric vehicles swelled 51.3 percent to 510 units. Thus, their sales growth was relatively slower than that of hybrids and PHEVs.