Import cars grab 5% of auto market

Import cars took more than 5 percent of the Korean auto market in January for the first time ever, according to data from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association. Korea began allowing vehicle imports in 1987.
Newly-registered import cars in January totaled 4,356 units, or 5.3 percent of the all vehicles registered in Korea. Compared with January of 2006, import car sales rose almost 27 percent.
For all of 2006, foreign vehicles accounted for 4.2 percent of the Korean car market, with sales of 400,500 units.
Korean car sales, meanwhile, plummeted 22.3 percent in January from a month earlier. No. 1 local carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. saw its domestic market share drop 6.1 percentage points to 47.6 percent in January from the same month one year earlier.
Yoon Dae-sung, an executive director of the auto association, said, “Import carmakers in Korea have been aggressively introducing new cars with comparatively low price tags, prompting a number of potential car buyers to migrate to import brands instead of locals.”
By brand, Audi posted the largest monthly sales at 593 units, with its most popular model, the 2.4-liter A6, selling 257 units. Audi has been gradually gaining favor among Korean consumers, ranking fourth in import sales last year, up from fifth in 2005 and ninth in 2004. Mercedes-Benz ranked second in sales, followed by BMW and Lexus.

By Seo Ji-eun Staff Writer [spring@joongang.co.kr]