Chevrolet's Presence Grows in the Imported Car Market 'After 5 Months'

Sold 1,363 Units in March... Top 3 Imported Car Brands for 2 Consecutive Months

Chevrolet Traverse (Photo by Chevrolet)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Chevrolet has established itself as a market leader just over five months after joining the imported car brand segment.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) on the 4th, Chevrolet sold 1,363 units in March, ranking 3rd in imported car brand sales. After first achieving 3rd place in February this year, it has maintained a ‘Top 3’ position for two consecutive months. Notably, since declaring its transition to an imported car brand and being included in KAIDA’s statistics from last November, Chevrolet has consistently stayed within the top 5.

The large sport utility vehicle (SUV) Traverse is the biggest contributor to Chevrolet’s success as an ‘imported car’ brand. Traverse recorded 439 units sold last month alone, ranking 9th overall in sales by imported car model. The company explained that it is closing the gap with its competitor, the Ford Explorer, by just 6 units, thereby strengthening its position in the imported large SUV segment.

The presence of the Chevrolet Bolt EV is also significant. Last month, the Bolt EV saw a 17.7% increase from the previous month with 506 units registered, placing it 4th among best-selling cars. As a result, Chevrolet had two models, the Bolt EV and Traverse, listed in the top 10 best-selling imported cars last month.

The pickup truck model Chevrolet Colorado registered 295 units in March. Maintaining steady popularity this year, it recorded 1,764 units in the first quarter (January to March), ranking 3rd among cumulative best-selling models during this period.

Chevrolet’s strong performance has also boosted the overall market share of American brands. From January to March, American cars held a 14.4% share of the domestic imported car market, up 5.3 percentage points from 9.1% during the same period last year. The U.S. is the only country to have expanded its market share by more than 50% year-over-year. In contrast, Japanese brands, which suffered from a boycott last year that disrupted sales and new car launches, saw their market share fall to about one-third of the previous level.

Chevrolet plans to further expand its market presence by leveraging its unique advantage as the only one among the 24 imported car brands registered with KAIDA to have both research and development and production facilities in Korea.