Foreign car sales in South Korea keep growing on demand for German models

Foreign luxury car sales in South Korea kept growing last month on strong demand for German luxury brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, industry data showed Friday.

Foreign automakers sold a combined 18,202 vehicles here in April, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).

The April sales were lower than in March when it recorded the largest monthly high of 22,280 units, but the sales continued to increase thanks to robust demand for German models.

For the first four months of this year, foreign car sales amounted to 77,171 units, up 26.2 percent from the same period last year.

German carmaker Mercedes-Benz ranked top in terms of best- selling brand, with 4,136 vehicles sold here in April. It was trailed by BMW with 3,798 units and Volkswagen with 2,612 units. The U.S.-based Ford ranked fourth with 1,044 cars sold, and Audi came next with 1,010 vehicles.

Volkswagen's Tiguan 2.0 TDI Bluemotion was the most popular model with 847 vehicles sold, beating BMW's 520d and Mercedes- Benz's E220 Bluetec, of which sales amounted to 615 units and 441 units, respectively.

European cars were most popular, with 14,320 vehicles sold last month. The number accounted for 78.7 percent of the total, followed by Japanese brands with 12.4 percent market share and U.S. models with 8.9 percent.

Vehicles with an engine capacity of 2 liters or less were most popular, posting a 54.4 percent share. It was trailed by cars with an engine displacement between 2-3 liters, which took up 35.2 percent.