Imported Car Sales Set South Korean Monthly High

Seoul August 6, 2004; Bae Keun-min writing for the Korea Times reported that import car sales have maintained their high numbers with record monthly sales last month, although sales of domestic carmakers have been stagnant.

The Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said Thursday imported car sales, measured by the number of new vehicles registrations, amounted to 2,244 units in July, jumping 34 percent from a year ago and 5.1 percent from June.

The July figure is a monthly record high, replacing the previous 2,135-unit sales set in June, KAIDA said.

In the first seven months, foreign car sales totaled 12,904 units, surging 18 percent from the same period last year.

By makers, Lexus topped the chart retailing 531 vehicles in July, followed by BMW with 424 units and Mercedes-Benz with 278 units.

DaimlerChrysler sold 219 units, while 211 vehicles made by Honda were purchased. Volkswagen retailed 105 units and Audi, 92 units.

By model, Lexus ES330 was the most popular as 326 units were sold, followed by Honda Accord 3.0 (168 units) and BMW 530 (148 units).

Noticeably, Honda¡¯s Accord 3.0 has been brisk in sales since it was first introduced in June, catching the third spot in June and the second spot in July in sales tally by model.

By engine displacement, vehicles with 2.1- to 3.0-liter engines accounted for the largest of 916 units, while 665 units had 3.1- to 4.0-liter engines. A total of 381 cars were equipped with engines less than a 2-liter engine displacement, with 282 units having more than a 4-liter engine.

As the market has been growing fast, Mercedes-Benz plans to take a bigger portion of the pie here with introducing a television commercial made solely for the market here. It is the first time that a foreign carmaker runs a TV ad only for the South Korean market.

The German-based auto giant has invested 2.5 billion won for two versions of commercials directed by Michael Chow from Hong Kong.