Imported car sales increase on Japanese, German picks

Sales of imported vehicles in Korea rose 12 percent last month from a year earlier on robust sales of Japanese and European models, industry data showed Wednesday.

The number of newly registered foreign cars climbed to 20,051 in April from 17,845 a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association said in a statement.

Sales of Japanese vehicles jumped 15 percent last month compared to a year earlier, with European car sales up 10 percent, the statement said.

The top three best-selling models were Mercedes-Benz’s E220d, BMW’s 320d and Lexus’ ES300h last month, it said.

Koreans chose other German brands over Audi and Volkswagen whose sales were banned in July in the country for fabricating emissions tests in some diesel-powered cars.

In the January-April period, imported car sales were up 1.6 percent to 75,017 in the year-ago period, the statement said.

Sales of imported diesel models plunged 23 percent year-over-year in the four months, while sales of gasoline and hybrid models soared 50 percent and 70 percent, it said. The share of imported vehicles in the domestic car market rose to 15.3 percent. YONHAP