Sales of imported light passenger vehicles in South Korea continued to plunge in May 2019, by almost 17% to 19,548 units from 23,470 units a year earlier, according to member data released by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).
Imported brands struggled to keep up with a resurgent Hyundai Motor, which continued to gain ground following the recent release of new models including the new Palisade and Santa Fe SUVs and the new Sonata passenger car.
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The association pointed to a lack of available stock as a key factor for the huge underperformance on the part of the importers in the South Korean vehicle market. In particular, it cited a shortage of some Mercedes-Benz models as the main reason for the decline in imports.
In the first five months of the year, import sales were down by 23% at 89,928 units from 116,798 units in the same period last year, with their share of the overall passenger vehicle market falling to 14.7% from 18.3% a year ago.
