Under revised trade rules agreed earlier this week, US automakers will be able to bring into South Korea 50,000 vehicles per automaker per year that meet US safety standards, not necessarily Korean standards, up from 25,000 vehicles previously.
But a Reuters examination of vehicle registration data has shown vehicles made in the US are a niche market in South Korea with most foreign models sold in 2017 German and Japanese.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
In 2017, Koreans registered just over 42,000 US made vehicles, many of them sport utility vehicles. Of those, nearly two thirds were vehicles made by German or Japanese automakers in their US factories, the news agency found.
The Ford Explorer was the most popular US made vehicle in South Korea last year, with about 6,000 vehicles registered, according to statistics compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association supplied to Reuters.
South Korean consumers registered 4,843 US-made FCA Jeeps while General Motors' Cadillac registered 2,008 US-made models sold last year, according to the KAIDA figures.
The data did not include the 4,739 Chevrolet vehicles imported and sold by GM Korea last year.
Overall, the news agency found, South Korean consumers preferred American-made vehicles offered by German and Japanese brands. BMW and Mercedes-Benz registered 12,947 US-made vehicles in South Korea in 2017 as the country became the sixth biggest market for Mercedes.
Among Japanese automakers, Honda had the most success selling its US-made vehicles to South Korean consumers, with 7,900 US-manufactured Hondas registered there last year, Reuters said.
