Japanese hybrid cars are eating into German diesel cars’ share in the Korea’s foreign car market, following a series of emissions and mileage scandals, according to market analysts.

The combined sales of German brands -- BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi and Volkswagen -- declined by 9 percent in the first half year-on-year, with their market share going down 4.6 percent to 64.2 percent, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association.


The fall was mainly led by the sales decline of Volkswagen’s best-selling models such as Golf, Passat and Tiguan. The German automaker sold around 25,000 units in the first half, a decrease of 7,600 units from same period of the previous year.

During the same period, Japanese brands have fared well. Sales of Toyota’s premium brand Lexus increased 23 percent and Infiniti also grew more than 38 percent. The growth was largely driven by hybrid models.

Lexus’ mid-size hybrid sedan ES300h sold 2,600 units, a 19 percent increase from the previous year and Infiniti’s hybrid sedan Q50S sold 262 units, an increase from 18 units during the same period last year.

Industry watchers predicted that hybrid cars would continue to grow in the latter half to further replace the German diesel car share.

“Hybrid cars have been underestimated in the market not because of the technologies but because of the consumer perception. However, such perception is beginning to change this year,” said Choi Woong-chul, a professor of Kookmin University’s college of automotive engineering.

Apart from Japanese brands, there were more than 25,000 sales of domestic hybrid cars -- including Kia’s Niro and Hyundai’s Ioniq Hybrid -- a 69 percent rise from the previous year.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)