Beating BMW
Mercedes Benz beat BMW and reclaimed the number one position in the Korean imported vehicle market by sales within two years and nine months.
According to September monthly sales data published by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) on Oct. 7, Mercedes Benz became the number one selling brand with sales of 3,538 vehicles. BMW sold 3,303 vehicles.
In December 2011, Mercedes Benz lost its title as the best selling brand to BMW. After two years and nine months, Benz reclaimed the top position. The E220 CDI, E250 CDI 4Matic, and C220 Bluetec of Mercedes Benz contributed a lot to regaining the number one title with sales of 610, 419, and 342 vehicles, respectively.
Behind Mercedes Benz and BMW, Audi (2,349 vehicles), Volkswagen (2,289 vehicles), Ford (733 vehicles), and Toyota (666 vehicles) followed.
By fuel type, 11,174 diesel vehicles (65.6 percent) were sold. Gasoline (5,105 vehicles, 30.0 percent), hybrid (743 vehicles, 4.4 percent), and electric (5 vehicles, 0.0 percent) cars followed.
The best-selling model was the Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI Bluemotion, and a total of 719 vehicles were registered. Tiguan is maintaining its position as the number one selling model with total of 6,255 vehicle sales this year. In addition, the diesel Mercedes Benz E220 CDI (610 vehicles) and Audi A6 35 TDI Quattro (446 vehicles) stayed in the high ranks in terms of sales.
In August, the sales volume of imported vehicles decreased slightly, as there were fewer business days due to summer vacation. However, sales increased again in September.
The number of newly-registered imported vehicles increased 3.6 percent to 17,027 in September compared to August. This is a 34.4 percent increase from 12,668 vehicles of the same period last year. Accumulated sales increased 25.6 percent to 145,844 vehicles this year compared to last year.