European and US carmakers are losing ground to Japanese companies in the Korean market.
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According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, about a third of the 53,000 imported cars sold last year were Japanese brands, the Korea Herald reported.
In 2003, Japanese brands held a 19.4% market share of all imports and in 2001 it was just 10.9%.
The newspaper said there are twenty foreign automobile brands being sold in the country and only three are produced by Japanese automakers – Toyota, Nissan and Honda.
The Japanese carmakers’ presence in the local imported car market is likely to further increase as they are bringing in cheaper models, the report said.
Nissan Korea, which until now has only been marketing Nissan Motor’s luxury brand Infiniti, plans to sell the cheaper Nissan brand vehicles during the second half of the year. Toyota Motor, which has also been focusing on Korea’s luxury car market with its Lexus brand, is also planning to launch Toyota brand cars in the country next year.
Japan’s fourth-largest automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. also plans to start selling its vehicles in Korea through Daewoo Motor Sales Corp. in September.
