Thursday, February 05, 2009

Import Car Market Korea 2009


Imports have made some inroads into the Korean car market. Nevertheless Hyundai-Kia Motors share 80% of the market.
I found this article in Chosun Ilbo intriguing. Import sales are down! Probably not due to nationalism, but the downturn in the global economy has buyers wary. Imports in Korea come with huge VATs.


Koreans Turn Backs on Imported Cars
The Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) said Wednesday the registration of imported cars for January was 3,760, down 29.1 percent from January of last year, and down 7.1 percent from December.

Some new 666 Honda cars were registered, ranking top, followed by BMW (525 cars), Mercedes-Benz (444), Audi (423), Volkswagen (409), Lexus (251), Chrysler (236 including Jeep and Dodge), Ford (170 including Lincoln), Infiniti (163), and Nissan (87).

Some 60 Peugeots were registered, skidding to 13th place from 10th with 216 a year ago and sustaining the biggest drop among all imported car brands. Registrations for Volvo also dropped from 228 to 78 year-on, dropping from 9th to 12th place.

Ford was the only brand ranking above 10th that saw registrations increase.

By model, the Honda Accord 3.5 sold most with 280, followed by the Honda CR-V (217) and BMW 528 (202).

1 comment:

  1. I was wondering if someone can direct me to more detailed informaton related to Lincoln's market appeal and brand awarness.

    ReplyDelete