Chinese-made surpassing Japanese-made... Ranked 3rd among domestic car import countries last year

Among imported cars sold domestically last year, only those from China and Japan increased. In particular, Chinese cars surpassed Japanese ones to emerge as the third largest import source after Germany and the United States.

According to the analysis of new registrations released on the 15th by the Korea Automobile Mobility Industry Association, a total of 296,450 imported cars were sold domestically last year, down 4.7% from 311,221 units the previous year. By origin, Germany and the United States recorded 118,523 and 58,422 units respectively, decreasing by 9.5% and 26.3% each.

BYD showroom in Beijing, China
[Photo by Yonhap News, AFP]

The volume of imported Chinese cars doubled to 26,389 units during the same period. Japanese cars were imported at 20,383 units, increasing by 57.6%, but fell behind Chinese cars for the first time. In 2022, Chinese cars were slightly fewer at 12,727 units compared to Japanese cars. The figures for Chinese cars include local brands mainly focused on commercial vehicles and production volumes from Chinese factories of some passenger car brands including Tesla.

A notable feature in the domestic new car sales market last year was that while sales of domestic cars increased, imported car sales declined. Domestic cars sold 1,453,000 units, up 5.9% from the previous year, whereas imported cars decreased by 4.8% to 296,000 units during the same period. In terms of market share, domestic cars accounted for 83.1%, increasing by 1.5 percentage points, while imported cars held 16.9%, decreasing by the same margin.

Although the number of units sold decreased, the total sales amount increased. The total value of cars sold last year was 78.453 trillion KRW, up 6.6% from the previous year. Notably, the average selling price per imported car exceeded 84 million KRW. Until the previous year, it was just over 78 million KRW. From this year, corporate cars priced over 80 million KRW are issued green license plates, meaning that on average, all fall under the new license plate category.

The association explained, "Preferences for premium cars such as hybrids and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) continued to drive an upward trend," adding, "Although monthly new registrations began to decline from the second half of the year, the average acquisition price significantly increased toward the end of the year due to corporate demand focused on premium cars."

Seasonally, the trend showed a strong start and a weak finish. Until the first half of last year, sales growth was steady due to accumulated demand following COVID-19, but it declined in the second half.

The association stated, "Electric vehicles, which had contributed to new car demand with high growth rates, have temporarily failed to maintain rapid growth, so domestic demand support is necessary," and urged, "Support for replacing old cars and continuation of tax reductions for electric vehicles, which are set to expire this year, should be maintained to stimulate demand centered on eco-friendly vehicles."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.