The Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association announced on January 7 that the number of newly-registered import cars was 12,405 in December of last year, a 10.5% month-on-month decrease. The total number of registered foreign cars grew 19.6% year-on-year to reach 156,497 in 2013.
Like 2012, BMW maintained the top spot with 3,066 vehicles last year. Volkswagen was in second place with 25,649 vehicles, followed by Mercedes-Benz (24,780 vehicles) and Audi (20,044). They posted sales growth of 17% to 39%. In particular, Ford (7,214), Land Rover (3,103), and Jaguar (1,901) reported stellar sales growth in the range of 40-60%.
However, Japanese cars showed poor performance. For example, Toyota sold 7,438 vehicles in 2013, a year-on-year decrease of 31%.
Meanwhile, the BMW 520D was the most sold model among import cars last year (8,346 vehicles). The next most sold car was the Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI BlueMotion (5,500), followed by the Mercedes-Benz E300 (4,926).
