Seoul, Dec 5 (IANS) Imported car sales in South Korea continued to grow last month due to strong demand for German brands, a trade association said Monday.
Registration of imported vehicles reached 9,230 units in November, up 11.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA). From a month before, car sales expanded 12.1 percent, reported Xinhua.
For the first 11 months of this year, a total of 97,158 imported vehicles were sold in South Korea. The trade association predicted earlier that sales of imported cars would surpass 100,000 units for the first time this year.
The November increase was mainly attributed to brisk sales in German brands. German automaker BMW ranked first in terms of best- selling brand by selling 1,708 units here last month. This was followed by Mercedes Benz with 1,673 units, Audi with 1,063 units, Nissan 866 units and Volkswagen with 831 units.
By size, vehicles with 2-litre or less engine capacities were most popular, posting 44.7 percent of the market share last month. This was followed by cars with engine of between 2 and 3 litres that represented the market share of 30.8 percent.
By origin, a total of 6,279 European cars were sold here last month, taking up the market share of 68.1 percent. It was followed by Japan with 23.1 percent share of the market and the US with 8.9 percent.
