Sales of imported commercial vehicles in S. Korea fall 4.4 pct in September

SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Yonhap) -- Sales of imported commercial vehicles in South Korea fell 4.4 percent last month from a year earlier as demand remained weak amid a slowing economy, an industry association said Tuesday.

The number of newly registered imported commercial vehicles fell to 259 units in September from 271 the previous year, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).

In the January-September period, imported commercial vehicle sales declined 15 percent to 2,878 autos from 3,369 during the same period a year earlier, it said.

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

Five major imported commercial vehicle brands -- MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Trucks, Scania and Iveco -- sell trucks, buses and vans.

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