Imported cars in Korea set to top 600,000 units

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Wed, November 29, 2023 | 05:33

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Imported cars in Korea set to top 600,000 units

Posted : 2011-11-17 19:47

Updated : 2011-11-17 19:47

Imported cars registered in Korea are expected to surpass 600,000 for the first time this month, buoyed by solid consumer demand.

By Jung Sung-ki

Imported cars registered in Korea are expected to surpass 600,000 for the first time this month, buoyed by solid consumer demand.

According to the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs and the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA), the number of foreign-made cars on the country’s streets hit 596,398 units as of the end of October.

Commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses were excluded from the statistics.

The figure accounts for 4.2 percent of the 14 million passenger cars registered in Korea, with the number expected to exceed 600,000 by the end of this month.

KAIDA officials said the increase is noteworthy because the total number of foreign cars in the country only surpassed the 500,000 mark one year ago, with the total reaching 510,319 units as of late 2010.

“The increase can be attributed to the fact that more people want to own diverse car models and more affordable and smaller-sized vehicles are now available,” a KAIDA official said.

Of all foreign car brands, Germany’s luxury carmaker BMW led the pack with 104,559 vehicles in the country, followed by Mercedes-Benz with 88,941 cars.

BMW is the only foreign carmaker that has more than 100,000 vehicles registered in the country, or 17.5 percent of all imported cars, according to KAIDA.

The market share for Mercedes-Benz reached 14.9 percent, followed by Lexus with 52,341.

Other carmakers such as Volkswagen and Audi made the top-five list, with U.S. carmakers Chrysler and Ford ranking seventh and eighth, respectively, in the number of registered cars.

As of last month, there were 46,436 Volkswagens, 44,843 Audis, 42,253 Hondas, 31,902 Chryslers, and 27,126 Fords in the nation.

KAIDA anticipated that sales of imported vehicles in Korea will grow by about 12 percent next year, fueled by steady consumer demand.

The association said a total of 119,000 foreign cars are expected to be sold in the domestic market in 2012, compared with an estimated sales figure of 106,000 vehicles this year.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr