US Cars Struggle in Booming Korean Market

Kim Ki-tae writing for the Korean Times reported that car importers have unfolded a series of aggressive marketing campaigns in an attempt to continue the record-breaking sales in the first half of year.

BMW Korea, which sold 500 units in a month for the first time for a foreign car importer, has opened 10 repair centers and is sponsoring one of Asia¡¯s biggest golf tours, BMW Asia Open.

The dealer plans to spearhead sales in the domestic market with its new 7 series.

Toyota Motor Korea has already outsold its annual sales target, 1,050 cars for the first half of the year, posting 1,342-unit sales.

Encouraged by the explosive demand, the dealer has raised sales target for this year to 2,500 units. The Japanese car dealer plans to open three additional showrooms and market its SC430 convertible.

Hansung Motor, a long time dealer of Mercedes Benz and Porsche vehicles, will open another showroom in southern Seoul in September and drum up publicity for its latest E Class range.

DaimlerChrysler Korea also plans to establish new sales outlets in Pusan and Taejon to form a sales network of 20 showrooms nationwide, coinciding with celebrations for its 10th anniversary.

GM Korea plans to increase its sales by widening its range of vehicles on offer. Cadillac CTS and Saab¡¯s new 9-3 are queued up to debut here in September and December respectively.

Audi and Volkswagen dealer Gojin Motor Imports aims to sell 400 units. It has expanded its sales network to Suwon, Inchon and Taejon and is promoting the latest models Audi Allroad Quattro and the Volkwagen Bora.

Ford Korea is aiming to sell 1,500 automobiles this year. It has opened a showroom on Tosan Street in southern Seoul, which has emerged as the mecca of imported car dealerships.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, car importers have witnessed an unprecedented sales boom here over the last six months and have chalked up combined sales of 7,042 units.

The impressive sales figures are exactly double the 3,521 cars reported for the same period a year earlier and 40.7 percent higher than the previous record of 5,003 units set during the first six months of 1996.

European models were the most popular vehicles, selling some 63 percent or 4,440 units of imported cars sold. Japanese cars grabbed 19 percent or 1,342 units of sales, exceeding the sales of American models, accounting for the remainder of vehicles. This means that Toyota, the only Japanese player here, outsold the American supposedly ``big three¡¯¡¯ of GM, Ford and Chrysler.

Lexus ES300 was the most popular model with 842 units being sold, followed by the BMW 530i with 473 units, BMW 745i with 317 units, BMW 525i with 280 and 272 Lexus LS 430 leaving showrooms.

Korea Automobile Manufacturing Association (KAMA) recently projected that dealers will set a 15,000 sales record that will grow to some 37,690 units in 2005.