BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen and Audi top the list


The nation’s import car industry saw its vehicle sales reach an all-time high during the first half of the year, posting a monthly average of 10,373 units.

Their sales came to 62,239 units in the first half, up 20.5 percent over the same period last year, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association said Wednesday.

For sales in June, import car brands reported an 18 percent year-on-year growth with sales of 10,578 units, though they inched down from May.

It was the fourth month in a row that sales surpassed 10,000 units, according to the association.

“The drop in June from a month before was merely due to shortage of supply of some brands. The overall sales are on an upward trend,” a KAIDA executive said.

While KAIDA officials expect monthly sales of more than 10,000 units to continue in the coming months, they said the eurozone fiscal crisis was an unpredictable factor.

The industry’s monthly sales exceeded the 10,000 mark in March 2011 for the first time in history.

BMW topped the list by selling 14,512 units in the first six months of the year, posting a 19.6 percent on-year growth, followed by Mercedes-Benz with 9,807 units, Volkswagen with 7,754 units and Audi with 7,279 units.

Markedly, Audi, a unit of Volkswagen Group, saw its sales in Korea jump 50.2 percent from the previous year.

BMW 520d was the best-selling model with first-half sales of 4,466 units, followed by Toyota Motor’s Camry with 2,853 units, Mercedes-Benz E300 with 2,487 units, BMW 320d with 2,207 units and BMW528 with 1,929 units.

KAIDA data showed, in particular, that sales of cars with an engine displacement of less than 2.0 liters as a percentage of total sales increased to 48 percent of the total, from 41.9 percent in the first half of 2011.

In contrast, the share for cars with an engine capacity between 3 and 4 liters and cars with capacity of more than 4 liters declined by 15 percent and 26.4 percent, respectively.

Korea saw yearly sales of import cars surpass 100,000 units for the first time in 2011.

The import brands’ 2011 sales came to 105,037 units, up 16 percent from a year earlier, KAIDA data showed.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)