Imported auto sales jump 50% in November

The Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) announced on Monday that along with the easing of a supply shortage of auto semiconductors, sales of foreign automobiles (excluding Tesla) in South Korea reached 28,222 units in November 2022, up 50.0% from November last year.

The figure also represents a growth of 25,363 units, or 11.3% growth, from the previous month.

Cumulative sales between January and November amounted to 253,795 units, 0.6% growth from the same period last year when the figure totaled 252,242 units.

Mercedes-Benz topped the November list with 7,734 units, followed by BMW with 7,209 units, Volvo with 2,615 units, Volkswagen with 1,943 units, and Audi with 1,667 units.

In terms of cumulative sales, however, BMW edged past Mercedes-Benz with 71,713 units against 71,525 units.

The most popular car was the Mercedes-Benz E-Class with sales of 2,368 units, followed by the BMW5 series with 2,190 units, the Volvo S90 with 1,304 units, and the Volkswagen Tiguan with 1,113 units.

Of the total, 24,245 units (85.9%) came from Europe, 2,530 (80.0%) from the US, and 1,447 (5.1%) from Japan.

Gasoline cars took 14,050 units (49.8%), hybrid cars 7,613 (27.0%), electric vehicles 2,707 (9.6%), diesel cars 2,639 (9.4%), and plug-in hybrid cars accounted for 1,213 (4.3%).

With the overall number of sales in November rising compared to last year, EVs recorded a whopping 252.5% growth to 2,707 units from 768 last November.

Meanwhile, sales of Tesla models in November were 1,334 units, according to data provided by Carisyou, South Korea’s auto-related data and information-providing platform. 

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com