New vehicle sales in South Korea in October were flat at 136,181 units, compared with 136,125 units a year earlier, according to local industry sources.
Local sales of domestically-produced vehicles fell by 1.7% to 122,027 units, from 124,106 units in the same month of last year, according to data complied by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.
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Data released by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, however, shows sales of imported vehicles jumped by close to 18% to 14,154 units, from 12,019 units, as local buyers continued to diversify their brand purchases.
Imports still represent a small proportion of the local market, however, in contrast with the much high penetration of South Korean vehicles in western markets.
BMW was the best selling foreign brand in October with 2,939 sales, followed by Volkswagen with 2,890 units and Mercedes-Benz with 2,238 units.
In the first 10 months of 2013, a total of 1,144,423 vehicles were sold in the country, including 130,239 imported vehicles and 1,014,184 locally produced vehicles.
