BMW, Mercedes-Benz take lead in S. Korea’s imported car sales

BMW Group Korea and Mercedes-Benz Korea sold 69,400 units and 61,436 units in South Korea from January to November of last year to exceed the sales of Renault Samsung Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., and SsangYong Motor Co.

It is the first time since the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association started compiling sales statistics in 2003 that the German duo surpassed the Korean units of three other foreign carmakers.

During the January to November period, total imported car sales totaled 252,242 units, up 3.6 percent on-year.

Of those sold during the said period were 59,435 luxury models with a price of more than 100 million won, accounting for 23.6 percent of total sales.

This figure is far higher than the 15.7 percent reported in 2020, 11.8 percent in 2019, and 10.1 percent in 2018.