Vehicles produced in other countries and sold here by South Korea-based automakers dropped sharply from a year earlier last month amid advances by their local competitors, industry data showed Monday.

In July, Renault Samsung Motors Co., the local unit of French automaker Renault S.A., sold 1,066 units of the QM3 crossover SUV, down 55.5 percent from the same month last year, according to the data.


QM3 cars are imported to South Korea after being produced overseas through the so-called original equipment manufacturing arrangement.

The July tally also marks a 12.2 percent drop from the previous month.

Sales of the Chevrolet Impala, another major OEM vehicle sold here by GM Korea Co., the local unit of U.S. automaker General Motors Co., also tumbled 52 percent on-year to 542 in July.

The sharp drop was partly attributed to the termination of a temporary tax cut on new cars, which also led to a 10.6 percent on-year decline in combined sales of five automakers here.

They include industry leader Hyundai Motor Co., its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp., and Ssangyong Motor Co., the local unit of Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Lt.

However, the drop was also attributed to advances by locally produced competitors of the said vehicles.

For instance, sales of the Kia K7, a key competitor of the Impala, more than doubled from a year earlier, spiking 167.5 percent on-year to 5,086 last month.

Also, Ssangyong's trendy SUV Tivoli sold 4,409 units in July, far surpassing the QM3, the data showed. (Yonhap)