Sales of imported light passenger vehicles in South Korea jumped by over 17% to 20,204 units in September 2019 from 17,222 units a year earlier, according to member data released by the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).
Imported brands significantly outperformed the overall market last month, as domestic sales fell by 17.5% to 110,130 units from 133,551 units a year earlier, despite a sharp drop in sales of Japanese brands after political and trade frictions between the two countries flared up over three months ago.
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Sales of Japanese brands in the country fell by 60% to 1,103 units combined in September from 2,744 units a year earlier due to what is widely described as a broad-based consumer boycott.
In the first nine months of 2019, Japanese light passenger vehicle sales were down by 6% at 28,657 units from 30,505 units.
Overall import sales in the nine month period were down by 15.2% at 167,093 units from 197,055 units in the same period of last year with the segment's overall performance also affected by a major BMW recall following a series of well publicised engine fires.
The leading import brand, Mercedes-Benz, reported an 8.2% sales increase to 54,908 units in the nine month period while BMW sales were almost 30% lower at 30,261 units; Lexus 10,426 units (+32.1%); Toyota 8,100 units (-32.1%); Volvo 7,974 units (+22.5%); Mini 7,438 units (+9.3%); Chrysler 7,094 units (+32.5%); and Honda 6,456 units (+22.1%).
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By GlobalDataVolvo Car Korea strengthened its range last month with the launch of the XC90 SUV which followed the launch of the new US built S60 sedan in the previous month.
Volkswagen vowed to continue to rebuild its presence in South Korea, having been virtually excluded from the market for more than a year in 2016 following its widely reported diesel emissions cover up scandal.
The automaker said it planned to launch five new SUV models in the next few years.
