Imported car sales rise 7.8 pct in August amid chip shortage

All News 11:04 September 05, 2022

SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea rose 7.8 percent last month from a year earlier despite the extended chip shortage, an industry association said Monday.

The number of newly registered foreign vehicles stood at 23,850 units last month, up from 22,116 units a year ago, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement.

"The supply of some brand models helped boost the monthly sales despite the chip shortage," the statement said.

The three bestselling models last month were the Mercedes-Benz's E 250 sedan, Mercedes-Benz E350 4MATIC sedan and BMW 520 sedan.

In August, three German brands -- Volkswagen Group Korea, BMW Group Korea and Mercedes-Benz Korea -- sold a combined 17,273 units, down 13 percent from 15,251 the previous year.

German cars accounted for nearly 70 percent of imported vehicles sold in Asia's fourth-biggest economy last month, KAIDA said.

Three Japanese brands -- Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and its independent brand Lexus -- sold 1,451 units last month, down 24 percent from 1,918 a year earlier.

Imported brands accounted for 17.66 percent of the Korean passenger vehicle market in July, down from 19.28 percent a year ago. Their market share for August has yet to be released, KAIDA said.

From January to August, imported car registrations declined 9.3 percent to 176,282 autos from 194,262 units during the same period of last year, it said.