Accumulated 243,440 Units from January to November... 13.4% Increase YoY
"COVID-19 Situation Acts as an Opportunity, Not a Setback" Evaluation
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The domestic imported car market is experiencing its greatest boom this year despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales have already surpassed 240,000 units as of last month, and it is expected to break the record for the highest annual sales of imported cars.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) on the 3rd, the number of newly registered imported passenger cars in November increased by 7.5% year-on-year to 27,436 units. The cumulative total from the beginning of this year to last month reached 243,440 units, approaching last year’s annual sales volume. If the current trend continues, it is expected to easily surpass the record high of 260,705 units set in 2018.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been a major adverse factor for the domestic economy this year, it is analyzed that it had a positive effect on the imported car market. With overseas travel becoming difficult, demand for vehicles for domestic travel increased, and the government’s policy of reducing the individual consumption tax throughout the year to minimize the impact of COVID-19 also proved effective. In particular, the current automobile individual consumption tax policy has been applied favorably to imported cars, which is believed to have strengthened the imported car market.
Notably, German brands, which introduced many new models this year, showed steep growth. Up to November this year, traditional imported car leaders Mercedes-Benz and BMW sold 67,333 and 52,644 units respectively, accounting for half of the entire imported car market. Audi (22,404 units) and Volkswagen (14,886 units), which launched the most aggressive new car marketing campaigns in the imported car industry, saw sales soar by 132.7% and 160.9% compared to the same period last year. Considering that Tesla from the United States, which is not included in KAIDA statistics, sold over 10,000 units, there is even speculation that the era of '300,000 imported cars annually' is not far off.
An industry official said, “From the beginning of the year, the imported car industry expected the largest number of new cars ever, and the new car lineup was solid, especially centered on volume models. Moreover, even during the first and second waves of COVID-19 in Korea, visits to imported car showrooms actually increased, so the impact of the COVID-19 situation was not significant.”
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