Vehicle importers in South Korea outperformed local brands in July, with sales rising by 12.1% to 17,628 units from 15,730 units a year earlier, according to data released by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association.
But sales of imports were almost 28% lower compared with the previous month, however, which the association attributed to a lack of stock.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Mercedes-Benz was the leading import brand last month with 5,472 sales, followed by BMW with 3,188 units, while Volkswagen and Audi were still struggling to recover from the emissions scandal which saw 80 models banned from sale last year.
Lexus sold 1,091 vehicles in the country last month and Toyota sold a further 1,047 units, helped by growing local demand for green cars including electric and hybrid vehicles.
Overall import sales rose by 2.5% to 135,780 units in the first seven months of the year, compared with 132,479 units in the same period of last year.
