This Year’s Imported Car Sales: Increase in American and Japanese Cars, Decrease in German Cars

by Woo Sooyoun

Published 05 Nov.2024 10:18(KST)

In this year's imported car market, sales of American and Japanese brands have increased, while sales of European brands, including German ones, have declined. As preference for eco-friendly vehicles becomes more pronounced in the imported car market, a rising trend is observed for American electric cars (Tesla) and Japanese hybrids (Toyota and Lexus).

According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) on the 5th, cumulative imported car sales from January to October this year showed that American brand sales reached 34,315 units, a 156% increase compared to the previous year. Sales of Japanese brands also rose by 13% to 21,383 units during the same period last year.

On the other hand, sales of European brands, including Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Italy, decreased by 14%. In particular, sales of German brand vehicles, which account for more than half of the domestic imported car market share, dropped by 13% to 135,933 units compared to the previous year.

Tesla Model Y
Photo by Tesla

Looking at each brand, Mercedes-Benz sold 54,475 units from January to October this year, down 10%, and BMW also saw a 3% decrease, selling 60,585 units. Audi sales plummeted by 51% to 7,472 units, while Volkswagen sold 6,675 units, down 15%. Porsche sales also fell by 30% to 6,744 units during the same period.

In contrast, American brands showed a significant increase led by the electric car brand Tesla. Tesla sold 24,880 electric vehicles by October this year, rising to third place in the industry. The Tesla Model Y became the best-selling imported car in Korea, with over 14,000 units sold domestically by October. This was largely due to the use of Chinese-made batteries, which lowered the price by more than 20 million KRW compared to American-made ones.

The strong performance of Japanese car brands, which prominently feature hybrids, is also notable. Lexus, Toyota's premium brand, sold 11,479 units domestically this year, an increase of 4.3%. The mass-market brand Toyota also sold 7,813 units, up 15% from the previous year.

Total sales in the imported car market have also shown a slight decline. Domestic imported car sales from January to October this year totaled 215,980 units, down 1.4% from the previous year. In particular, sales in October were 21,249 units, a 14% decrease compared to the previous year.

Jung Yoon-young, Vice Chairman of the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, said, "New registrations of imported passenger cars in October decreased compared to the previous month due to the depletion of 2024 model year stock following some brands' model year changes and shortages of some models."