SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s imported car sales logged a double-digit growth in October owing to robust demand for German luxury models, industry data showed Thursday.
The number of imported vehicles sold here was 25,363 in October, up 35.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).
The double-digit increase was attributable to higher demand for German brands and the eased supply disruptions in semiconductors used to make vehicles.
German carmaker Mercedes-Benz ranked first in terms of automotive sales here among foreign companies by selling 7,717 units last month.
Another German carmaker BMW came next with domestic sales of 6,754 units, followed by Audi with 2,637 units, Chevrolet with 1,586 units and Volkswagen with 1,114 units respectively.
The number of European models sold here was 21,189 in October, accounting for 83.5 percent of the total.
U.S. and Japanese brands recorded market shares of 10.4 percent and 6.1 percent each.
For the first 10 months of this year, the local sales of imported cars were 225,573 units, down 3.4 percent compared to the same period of last year.