Imported car sales dip 6.1 pct in 2019 as Japanese brands struggle

All News 10:35 January 06, 2020

By Choi Kyong-ae

SEOUL, Jan. 6 (Yonhap) -- Imported car sales in South Korea fell 6.1 percent in 2019 from a year earlier as Japanese brands struggled with a boycott amid trade tensions between Seoul and Tokyo, an industry association said Monday.

The number of newly registered foreign vehicles fell to 244,780 units last year from the previous year's 260,705, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).

"Local campaigns against Japanese vehicles and other products are still underway, weighing on imported carmakers' overall sales results (for the year of 2019). And lack of supply by Volkswagen also drove down the results," a KAIDA official said over the phone.

Japanese carmakers, like Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., saw their sales plunge 19 percent to 36,661 units from 45,253 over the cited period as local consumers shunned Japanese vehicles over the neighbor's restrictions on exports of key materials to South Korea.

In July, Japan tightened regulations on exports to South Korea of three high-tech materials critical for the production of semiconductors and displays. In August, Japan officially removed South Korea from its list of countries given preferential treatment in trade procedures.

The Japanese moves are widely seen as retaliation against court rulings here that ordered Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

German carmakers, including Audi-Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, posted a 4.2 percent on-year drop last year as they couldn't deliver most of its ordered vehicles to Korean customers. Their combined sales declined to 146,968 autos from 153,447 during the period, the statement said.

The three best-selling models were Mercedes-Benz's E 300 sedan, Mercedes-Benz's E 300 4MATIC sedan and Lexus' ES300h sedan, the statement said.

Imported cars accounted for 15.56 percent of the domestic passenger car market in the first 11 months, down from 16.92 percent a year ago, it said.

"Their market share for the whole year of 2019 will be released soon after collecting sales data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association," the official said.