SEOUL: Last month, the import car market in Korea shrank 18% from a year before. This is because the suspension of the sale of Audi Volkswagen cars gave rise to a sharp fall in sales of Audi Volkswagen. On October 7, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributions Association (KAIDA) announced that 16,778 import cars were registered in September and this figure was a drop of 17.7% from a year earlier. The number of registered import vehicles from January to September slid 7.8% year on year as well.
A ban on the sale of Audi Volkswagen brought about a year on year drop in sales of import cars in Korea in September after August. Audi Volkswagen has not begun their recertification procedures yet. Sales of Audi cars and Volkswagen cars fell 83% and 94%, respectively last month. While taking advantage of Audi Volkswagen’s slump, Mercedes Benz surpassed 5,000 units in sales in September. Mercedes Benz did that for the second time after March. Benz competing with BMW to be the king of import cars in Korea widened its lead over BMW to 7,000.
By brand, 5,087 Mercedes Benz cars, 3,031 BMW cars, 1,066 Lexus cars, 957 Land Rover cars and 925 Ford cars were registered in September. They were followed by Toyota (742), Mini (675), Honda (605) and Chrysler (542). Audi and Volkswagen sold 506 and 184. The Benz E 220 d became the best selling import car in Korea in September with 1,244 units sold. The Benz E 220 was followed by the Benz E300 (818 units) and the Lexus ES300h (730 units).
