Imported car sales rise 17 pct in Oct. amid chip shortage

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 35 percent last month from a year earlier despite the extended chip shortage, an industry association said Thursday.

The number of newly registered foreign vehicles stood at 25,363 units last month, up from 18,764 units a year ago, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement.

The three bestselling models last month were Mercedes-Benz's E 250 sedan, BMW's 520 sedan and Audi's Q4 e-tron 40 SUV, the statement said.

In October, three German brands -- Volkswagen Group Korea, BMW Group Korea and Mercedes-Benz Korea -- sold a combined 18,959 units, up 54 percent from 12,317 the previous year.

German cars accounted for nearly 75 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 1,536 units last month, down 9.8 percent from 1,703 a year earlier.

Imported brands accounted for 20.52 percent of the Korean passenger vehicle market in September, down from 20.65 percent a year ago. Their market share for October has yet to be released, KAIDA said.

From January to October, imported car registrations fell 3.4 percent to 225,573 autos from 233,432 units during the same period of last year, it said.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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