SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Excluding Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., foreign car brands emerged as the winners in the South Korean car market last year.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, BMW Group Korea and Mercedes-Benz Korea sold 69,400 units and 61,436 units in the Korean market during the January to November period of last year, exceeding the sales of Renault Samsung Motors Corp., GM Korea Co. and SsangYong Motor Co.
For the first time since the association started compiling sales statistics in 2003, the sales of the German premium carmaker duo surpassed those of the Korean units of three foreign carmakers.
During the January to November period of last year, cumulative import car sales totaled 252,242 units, up 3.6 percent from a year ago.
Among the imported cars sold during the period, the share of luxury models with a price of more than 100 million won (US$83,680) stood at 59,435, accounting for 23.6 percent of total sales.
This figure is far higher than the 10.1 percent reported in 2018, 11.8 percent in 2019 and 15.7 percent in 2020.
Image Credit: BMW Group Korea / Mercedes-Benz Korea / photonews@koreabizwire.com
