Sales of imported light passenger vehicles in South Korea continued to plunge in June 2019, by almost 17% to 19,386 units from 23,311 units a year earlier, according to member data released by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).
Imported brands continued to under-perform last month with sales falling by over 5% to 124,963 vehicles, which the association blamed on a shortage of some key models.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
A Kaida spokesman said a "lack of supply of some Audi, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz models affected the sales result in June".
Import sales in the first half of 2019 were down 22% to 109,314 units from 140,109 a year ago.
Mercedes-Benz, the leading import brand, reported a 19.4% drop in H1 sales to 33,116 units with the E300 by far its best selling model.
BMW and Mini sales plunged by close to 43% to 22,372 units as the company continued to suffer from last year's controversial recall following a high number of engine fires reported last year.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataVW/Audi also struggled to recover from its earlier emissions cover up scandal with sales plunging 58% to 4,335 units in the first half.
Toyota and Lexus sales were slightly higher at 14,691 units, thanks mainly to strong demand for Lexus, while Volvo reported a 25% sales rise to 5,225 units.
