German cars drove import sales up 21% in September

Sales of imported vehicles in Korea jumped 21 percent last month compared to a year earlier on robust demand for German vehicles, industry data showed Wednesday.

The number of newly registered foreign vehicles rose to 20,234 in September from 16,778 a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association said in a statement. The three best-selling models were the BMW 520d, BMW 520d xDrive and Mercedes-Benz E 220 sedans.

Six out of 10 imported vehicles sold in Korea last month were from Germany, the statement said, and seven out of 10 imported vehicles sold during the first nine months of the year were from Europe.

The share of imported vehicles in the Korean passenger car market rose to 15.1 percent in the first nine months of the year from 14.6 percent during the same period last year, an association spokeswoman said.

Yonhap