The number of new vehicles registered in South Korea last year rose 2.8% to 1.53m units from 1.49m in 2009. Of last year’s total, imported vehicles rose almost 50% over 2009 to to about 100,000 units.
The Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) said that 24 overseas brands combined to sell 90,562 vehicles, up 48.5% from a year earlier. The best-selling import was the Mercedes-Benz E300 with 6,228 sales, followed by the BMW 528 with 5,130 and Toyota’s Camry with 4,241.
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BMW maintained its number one position among the importers selling 16,798 vehicles, followed by Mercedes Benz with 16,115 and Volkswagen with 10,154.
Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group sold a combined 1.1m units locally last year.
According to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, the number of registered automobiles in the country came in at 17.94m units at the end of last year.
The ministry expects the number of registered automobiles to rise above the 18m mark in February if the pace is maintained at last year’s levels. The number of registered vehicles is increasing at a monthly average of about 51,000.
Last year saw the largest year-on-year increase since 2003 when the number of automobiles in Korea jumped by 637,000 units.
