Lexus Ranks 3rd Amid Warming Korea-Japan Relations
Cumulative Sales of 130,689 Units in First Half of This Year
BMW 1st, Mercedes-Benz 2nd
Automobile brands Lexus and Toyota, which struggled due to the Japanese product boycott movement 'No (NO) Japan,' are recovering their vehicle sales thanks to the improving Korea-Japan relations.
Lexus and Toyota have seen their sales volumes return to an upward trend due to the restoration of Korea-Japan relations. [Photo by Lexus Korea]
The Korea Imported Automobile Association announced on the 5th that the number of newly registered imported passenger cars last month was 26,756, a 17.9% increase compared to the same period last year (22,695 units). It also rose 25.4% compared to the previous month (21,339 units).
The cumulative sales volume for the first half of this year (January to June) was 130,689 units, a slight decrease of 0.2% compared to the same period last year. By brand, BMW ranked first with 8,100 registrations.
Mercedes-Benz followed closely in second place with 8,003 units. Notably, the sales volume of Toyota's luxury brand Lexus attracted attention. Lexus ranked third with 1,655 units. Following were Volvo (1,372 units) and Audi (1,347 units) in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Porsche (1,109 units), Mini (970 units), Toyota (966 units), Volkswagen (538 units), and Land Rover (507 units) followed.
The automotive industry analyzed that as the Japanese product boycott movement, which began in 2019, gradually subsides, the sales of Lexus and Toyota vehicles have started to increase significantly from this year.
Toyota and Lexus have been implementing aggressive sales strategies by consecutively launching new models this year. Toyota recently introduced the crossover utility vehicle (CUV) Crown to the domestic market, while Lexus launched its first pure electric vehicle, the ‘The All-New Electric RZ,’ and the ‘New Generation RX,’ among others.
The best-selling vehicle was the BMW 5 Series (2,693 units). It was followed by the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (2,091 units), Mercedes-Benz S-Class (1,619 units), Lexus ES (825 units), and Mercedes-Benz GLE (772 units).
Electric vehicle sales also increased noticeably. By fuel type, gasoline led with 11,966 units (44.7%), followed by hybrid with 8,285 units (31.0%), electric with 2,694 units (10.1%), diesel with 2,306 units (8.6%), and plug-in hybrid with 1,505 units (5.6%). By purchase type, individual purchases accounted for 15,990 units (59.8%), and corporate purchases accounted for 10,766 units (40.2%).
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
