Tesla, Volvo expand presence against Volkswagen, Jaguar, Land Rover

By Kim Hyun-bin

Tesla and Volvo sales are gaining traction as they compete fiercely as emerging powerhouses in the Korean market while Volkswagen, Ford, and Jaguar Land Rover ― the traditional market leaders ― seem to be losing pace.

According to CarIsYou, an automotive data lab, Tesla has ranked fourth in import car sales, recording 17,828 last year. Its sales volume increased by 50.8 percent from the previous year.

Tesla first entered the Korean market in June 2017, and took over rapidly soon after. As of 2020, Tesla ranked sixth in terms of sales of imported passenger cars, and climbed to fourth place last year, beating Volvo and Volkswagen.

Tesla sold 17,828 vehicles last year, accounting for 73.8 percent of the total imported EV sales.

By model, Tesla's Model 3 sold the most among imported EVs with 8,898 vehicles, followed by Tesla Model Y, which started selling last year, with 8,891 cars.

The steady performance of Volvo is also notable, as it is competing fiercely with Tesla for fourth place. Volvo, which ranked fifth in passenger car sales among imported cars last year, sold 15,056 vehicles.

This is a 17.6 percent increase from the previous year's 12,799. In particular, Volvo Korea has maintained double-digit growth for 10 consecutive years. Industry watchers believe Volvo's marketing towards safety-first initiatives has been paying off.

"Volvo Korea has been able to continue growing in the domestic market for 10 years by providing premium products and services based on safety. It also ranked top in Product Satisfaction for two consecutive years while providing differentiated Swedish premium vehicles," a Volvo Korea official said. "This year, we will release the C40 rechargeable pure EV so that many people can experience Volvo's differentiated premium EV."

However, other traditional powerhouses have failed to make an impact. Volkswagen has been unable to recover its sales volume, which decreased around 2016-17 due to the Volkswagen emissions scandal, known as 'Dieselgate', when the carmaker was busted for manipulating emissions testing.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA), Volkswagen sold 35,778 vehicles in 2015 and ranked third. However, in 2016, when the Dieselgate scandal broke, its sales volume decreased to 13,178 cars.

After it was found to have used software to cheat on diesel emissions tests, the German automotive company was banned from sales in Korea from June 2016 to 2017, unable to sell a single vehicle. In addition, the company's compensation plan didn't satisfy many Korean customers, resulting in the sales downtrend. Since then, sales have recovered slightly, recording 14,369 vehicles sold last year, but failed to recover to its peak days.

"Rather than focusing solely on improving sales, we have been strengthening our internal process to bring in products faster and increasing transparency on the internal system and procedures," Volkswagen Korea official said. "For this year, we have launched three new models in January and expect to release our first electric vehicle, ID4, later this year to provide local customers with a range of options."

Sales of Ford and Jaguar Land Rover, which once exceeded 10,000 cars, are also sluggish. Ford sold 11,586 vehicles in 2018, but went downhill and sold only 6,885 last year. Jaguar Land Rover, which sold 15,473 vehicles in 2018, only sold 3,558 cars last year. In the rankings of imported passenger car sales, Ford ranked 11th and Land Rover ranked 16th.

Jaguar Land Rover's sales slump is attributed to the negative word of mouth over accumulated consumer complaints regarding its after-sales maintenance services.

"Sales have been somewhat affected since 2018 as customers raised quality issues online. In response, the U.K. headquarters and Jaguar Land Rover Korea have been responding actively to improve quality," Jaguar Land Rover Korea said in a written statement. "Due to the spread of COVID-19 in the U.K. in 2020, production was disrupted, and supply and demand in Korea was not smooth. In addition, the worldwide shortage of semiconductors since last year is a factor that greatly affects sales."

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