Imported car sales rise 11 pct in March on improved supplies

▲ This file photo taken Dec. 19, 2022, shows the BMW Charging Station at the German carmaker's driving center in Incheon, 27 kilometers west of Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

imported cars-Feb sales

Imported car sales rise 11 pct in March on improved supplies

SEOUL, March 6 (Yonhap) -- Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea rose 11 percent last month from a year earlier on improved supplies and new models, an industry association said Monday.

The number of newly registered foreign vehicles stood at 21,622 units last month, up from 19,454 units a year ago, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement.

"Some brands' vehicle supplies and their launches of new models helped boost sales last month," KAIDA Vice Chairman Jung Yoon-young said in the statement.

The three bestselling models last month were BMW's 520 sedan, Lexus' ES300h sedan and Mercedes-Benz's E 350 4MATIC sedan, the statement said.

In February, three German brands -- Volkswagen Group Korea, BMW Group Korea and Mercedes-Benz Korea -- sold a combined 15,740 units, up 6.8 percent from 14,738 the previous year.

German cars accounted for 73 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 2,200 units last month, more than doubling from 1,009 a year earlier.

Imported brands accounted for 15.9 percent of the Korean passenger vehicle market in January, down from 18.1 percent a year ago. Their market share for February has yet to be released, KAIDA said.

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