SEOUL: Sales of imported cars in South Korea dropped 12.1 percent on-month in August, affected by such seasonal factors as summer vacation that made potential consumers delay buying new vehicles, industry data showed Friday.
According to the data by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, 18,200 foreign vehicles were newly registered in the country last month, compared with the previous month’s 20,707 units. August marks the second straight month that car imports have dropped on a monthly basis after reaching an all-time monthly high of 24,274 units in June.
“The August imported car sales dropped from a month earlier due to some brands failing to secure sufficient inventories and seasonal factors such as summer vacation,” the association said.
The August registration figure, however, was up 10.7 percent from a year earlier. The latest figure raised the cumulative sales of imported cars during the January-August period to 158,739 units, a 23.2 percent rise from the same period in 2014.
European cars continued to dominate the local market, with 84.5 percent of August imports coming from the area. Japanese and American brands followed with 10.2 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively. German carmakers carved out the largest portion of the market, taking up 74.6 percent of newly-registered foreign vehicles last month.
Mercedes-Benz topped the pack by selling 3,662 units, followed by its German rival, BMW, with 3,642 units. Volkswagen and Audi came next with 3,145 units and 2,796, respectively. The best-selling model was Volkswagen’s Passat 2.0 TDI, with sales of 854 units, followed by Audi’s A6 35 TDI with 795 units, the data showed.
Vehicles with diesel engines remained the most popular, accounting for 72.3 percent of total registrations in August. Gasoline vehicles came in second with a 25.5 percent share, while hybrid and electric cars trailed with 2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, the data showed.
