South Korea’s imported car sales surged 39.2 percent on-year in June on the back of strong demand, according to a local trade association on Friday.
Sales for June ― 17,803 vehicles ― rose 16.3 percent from the previous month, posting a new monthly record, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association said. April’s sales had set a previous record of 16,712 units.
The total amount represents just under 2.4 percent of the 750,381 new cars sold in the country last month. This figure includes cars sold by the five local carmakers, including Hyundai Motor and Renault Samsung Motors, as well as all import brands.
“The rise comes after companies resolved the supply problems that had been holding back sales,” said Yoon Dae-sung, the association’s executive manager. “Aggressive marketing and the introduction of new car models also helped.”
For the first half, sales of new foreign cars reached 94,263 units, up 26.5 percent from 2013 when annual sales of imported car brands had hit an all-time high of 156,497 units.
