Sales of Imported Cars Over 100 Million KRW Drop by 20%
Since the implementation of the 'light green license plate' system, sales of imported luxury cars priced over 100 million KRW decreased last year. This marks the first decline in high-priced imported car sales in eight years.
On the 28th, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) announced that a total of 62,520 imported cars priced over 100 million KRW were sold domestically from January to December last year. This represents a 20.1% decrease compared to the previous year (78,208 units).
This is the first time since 2016 that sales of imported cars priced over 100 million KRW have contracted, marking a negative growth after eight years.
Accordingly, the proportion of high-priced imported cars in total imported car sales also shrank. The share of imported cars priced over 100 million KRW was 28.9% in 2023, but dropped by 5.2 percentage points to 23.7% last year.
The brand with the highest sales of imported cars priced over 100 million KRW was BMW, with 24,543 units sold. It was followed by Mercedes-Benz (19,529 units) and Porsche (8,254 units).
The brand with the largest decrease was the luxury brand Bentley, whose sales plummeted by 50.6%, from 810 units in 2023 to 400 units last year. Bentley is a brand with a minimum price of over 300 million KRW per vehicle.
Meanwhile, the light green license plate system was introduced to prevent private use of high-priced corporate vehicles. It was also a key pledge during President Yoon Suk-yeol’s election campaign. Previously, at the end of 2023, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced an administrative notice revising the 'Standards for Vehicle Registration Plates,' and the system has been in effect since January last year. The core of the legislation is to distinguish corporate vehicles, including official cars, with acquisition prices over 80 million KRW by attaching light green license plates.
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