Reviving Foreign Car Market

Foreign cars, such as those from Mercedes Benz, BMW, Volvo, and Toyota, are experiencing rapid sales growth in Korea.
Hansung Motors, the Korean importer of Mercedes Benz, sold 55 cars in the first quarter of 1999, a four-fold increase over the 14 cars sold in the same period last year.
BMW Korea, which imports BMWs and Rovers sold 150 cars, a three-fold increase over last year. SAAB Korea, Volvo Korea, and Toyota Commerce Korea, all sold twice as many cars than they did last year.
However, not all foreign cars are doing as well. The leading company of last year's first quarter, Ford Korea, which sold 147 cars, has only sold 14 cars this year. This is mainly due to supply problems caused by delays when ordering. In March, Ford Korea could not sell any cars because it literally had no stock.
Hyosung Corporation, which imports Volkswagons and Audis, sold only 20 percent of last year's number due to delays caused by negotiations with Volkswagon over the possibility of direct sales.
The amount of foreign cars sold in the first quarter totaled 444, less than last year's first quarter sales of 460.
Yun Dae Sung, the executive director of Association of Car Importers, said, 'The foreign car market is getting better than last year, but it will apparently recover in the second half of this year.'

Jooan Kang : jooan@joongang.co.kr