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Imported cars captured a more than 6 percent share of Korea's car market for the first time ever in the first half of this year. The Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association says the number of newly-registered foreign cars in the first half grew 31.2 percent year-on-year to 33,449, accounting for 6.09 percent of the nation's car market, up from 5.13 percent last year.
By price range, foreign cars selling for less than W30 million (US$1=W1,013) marked the highest market share growth of 89.2 percent. More Koreans are buying affordable foreign cars as the price gap narrows between imported and Korean-made cars. Foreign cars costing W30~40 million were next on the list with growth of 61.9 percent while W100~150 million cars and those costing more than W150 million decreased by 8 percent and 3.9 percent respectively.
The top selling brand was Honda followed by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Audi, Volkswagen, Chrysler (including Dodge and Jeep), Infiniti, Ford and Volvo. By model, the Honda Accord 3.5 sold 2,262 units, BMW 528i sold 2,103, Honda CR-V sold 1,924, Lexus ES350 sold 1,440 and Mercedes-Benz C200 sold 900 cars.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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