Imported car sales up 19 pct in May despite pandemic
SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap) -- Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea rose 19 percent in May from a year earlier as strong demand for German vehicles offset weak demand for Japanese ones amid the coronavirus pandemic, an industry association said Wednesday.
The number of newly registered foreign vehicles rose to 23,272 units last month from 19,548 a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement.
"New models released by Audi and Porsche and increased supplies and marketing activities by Mercedes-Benz helped drive up the overall monthly sales," KAIDA spokeswoman Park Eun-seok said in a statement.
Imported brands accounted for 17 percent of South Korea's passenger vehicle market in the January-April period, up from 15 percent a year ago. Their market share for May will be available in late June.
From January to May, foreign carmakers sold a total of 100,886 autos, up 12 percent from 89,928 in the same period of last year, KAIDA said.
The three bestselling models were the Mercedes-Benz's E300 4MATIC sedan, E250 sedan and Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI sport utility vehicle, the statement said.
German brands -- Audi-Volkswagen Korea, BMW Group Korea and Mercedes-Benz Korea -- sold a combined 15,920 vehicles last month, jumping 23 percent from 12,852 a year ago, it said.
In contrast, Japanese carmakers saw their sales plunge 62 percent to 1,672 units from 4,415 during the same period, as the two countries are still at odds over Japan's export curbs against South Korea.
Five Japanese brands are available in the Korean passenger vehicle market -- Toyota Motor Corp. and its luxury brand Lexus; Honda Motor Co.; and Nissan Motor Co. and its premium brand Infiniti.
Nissan announced last month it will withdraw its operations from South Korea by December as it is hard to regain sustainable growth here due to worsening business environments amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Japanese carmaker will pull out the Nissan and premium Infiniti brands as part of its global business reorganization, the company said in a statement.
Last July, Japan tightened regulations on exports to South Korea of three high-tech materials critical for the production of semiconductors and displays. In August, it removed South Korea from its list of countries given preferential treatment in trade procedures.
South Korea views the moves as retaliation against 2018 Supreme Court rulings here ordering Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
(END)
-
New Defense Minister Lee takes office, warns of 'stern' response to possible N.K. provocations
-
(LEAD) Yoon taps ex-deputy NSA for spy chief
-
Gov't to significantly increase international flights to meet travel demand
-
(2nd LD) BTS wins three Billboard Music Awards, marking 6th year to win an award
-
Crypto investor probed over allegedly visiting house of Terraform's CEO
-
S. Korea to send condolence delegation to UAE over death of president
-
Yoon expresses hope for reopening of Seoul-Tokyo air route to bolster exchanges
-
(LEAD) N. Korea confirms first case of omicron variant of COVID-19: state media
-
Seoul's daily subway ridership hits pandemic-era high on eased restrictions
-
(5th LD) N.K. leader, wearing mask, chairs meeting on omicron outbreak
-
(LEAD) S. Korea looks into cryptocurrency market following TerraUSD, Luna crash
-
S. Korean volunteer fighter in Ukraine doesn't regret his action despite facing imprisonment at home
-
(LEAD) Yoon names ex-Vice FM Cho as ambassador to U.S.
-
(LEAD) N. Korea reports 6 additional deaths amid COVID-19; military mobilized for drug supply
-
S. Korea's Black Eagles aerobatic team to perform in British air shows in July