Imported commercial car sales plunge 27 pct in August

SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- Sales of imported commercial vehicles in South Korea plunged 27 percent last month from a year earlier as demand remained weak amid a slowing economy, an industry association said Thursday.

The number of newly registered imported commercial vehicles fell to 267 units in August from 367 the previous year, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).

In the January-August period, imported commercial car sales declined 16 percent to 2,619 autos from 3,098 in the year-ago period, it said.

The monthly sales data do not include figures for dump trucks, as KAIDA only began to add those numbers to its commercial car sales tally in January.

Imported commercial vehicles currently account for a large percentage of the domestic commercial vehicle market, but their exact market share has not been released.

The five major imported commercial car brands -- MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Trucks, Scania and Iveco -- sell trucks, buses and vans.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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