Mercedes-Benz maintained at the top of Korea’s imported car market for the second month in a row by selling 5,472 cars in July, whereas overall foreign car sales plunged 26 percent due to tight supply.

According to Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) on Friday, a total of 17,628 foreign cars were sold in Korea last month, down 25.8 percent from June. Still, it was 12.1 percent higher than a year ago.

Yoon Dae-sung, vice chairman of KAIDA, attributed the monthly sales decrease to a supply shortage on top of operational vacancy due to summer holidays.

By brand, Mercedes-Benz commanded the largest share of the market by selling 5,472 vehicles in the month. It was followed by BMW (3,188 units), Lexus (1,091 units), Toyota (1,407 units), Ford (1,033 units), Honda (1,001 units), MINI (794 units), Land Rover (786 units), Volvo (624 units) and Nissan (593 units). But sales of Mercedes-Benz and BMW cars dropped by 30 percent and 42 percent, respectively, from the previous month.

By fuel type, gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles were highly sought by Korean consumers with each taking up 44.7 percent (7,888 units) and 43.9 percent (7,744 units) of total sales in July. It marked the first time gasoline models outnumbered diesel models in foreign car sales for the first time in six months

Hybrid vehicles accounted for 11.2 percent (1,983 units) of the market. Electric vehicles were sold only 13 units (0.1 percent).

By country, European brands remained most popular with a 67.6 percent market share. Japanese brands made big strides of 22.5 percent. One in 10 foreign cars sold last month was an American brand.

The best-selling model in July was Lexus hybrid ES300h of which 660 units were delivered to Korea, followed by Mercedes-Benz E220 d 4MATIC with 614 units and Ford Explorer 2.3 with 603 units.

By Park Chang-young

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]