Premium class foreign vehicles were selling better among imported brands, industry data showed Monday, with one out of four sold in South Korea priced at 70 million won ($66,100) or higher.

Last year, South Korea imported a record 196,359 foreign vehicles, of which those priced 70 million won or above accounted for 24.9 percent, according to the data by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association.

The ratio is higher than 21 percent a year earlier.

Imported vehicles have become less emblematic of excessive luxury as indicated by steadily increasing sales over the past years, market watchers say, but such a view is also pushing up demand for more exclusive brands by customers who want to differentiate themselves from others.

Maserati, whose cars are priced at over $100,000 on average, said last week it sold 723 units in South Korea last year, up 469 percent from the previous year. The jump is the highest among the Southeast Asia and Pacific markets, it said.

Sales of premium foreign vehicles grew almost in all price levels. Sales of foreign vehicles priced at 150 million won or higher surged 92.1 percent to 5,616 units last year, the data showed. Their market share expanded from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent.

Sales of cars priced between 70 million won and 100 million won also jumped 56.1 percent last year, the second sharpest hike among the luxury car segment.

The market share for relatively low-priced foreign vehicles, however, declined.

Sales of foreign cars priced below 30 million won came to 5,036 units, down 10.1 percent from a year earlier, the data showed. This is the only price range in which foreign car sales shrank last year.

Cars in the 40-50 million won price range logged a 10.2 percent rise in their sales to 35,250 units last year, but their market share fell to 18 percent from the previous year's 20.4 percent, according to the data. (Yonhap)