This file photo taken Oct. 13, 2020, and provided by Mercedes-Benz Korea shows the upgraded E-Class sedan.
SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 27 percent in January from a year earlier on robust sales of German cars, an industry association said Wednesday.
The number of newly registered foreign vehicles climbed to 22,321 units last month from 17,640 a year ago despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement.
The three bestselling models last month were the Mercedes-Benz E 250 sedan, Mercedes-Benz E 350 4MATIC sedan and BMW 520 sedan, the statement said.
In January, German brands — Audi-Volkswagen Korea, BMW Group Korea and Mercedes-Benz Korea — sold 15,854 units, up 47 percent from 10,815 the previous year, it said.
Seven out of 10 imported vehicles sold in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy last month were from Germany.
Imported brands accounted for 22 percent of the Korean passenger vehicle market in December, up from 19.3 percent a year ago. Their market share for January is available next month, KAIDA said.
(Yonhap)
