Sales of ultra-luxury super cars exceed 6,000 units

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ lineup (Rolls-Royce Korea)

The number of ultra-expensive luxury cars priced at over 300 million won ($231,00) sold in South Korea has exceeded 6,000 units, a report showed Tuesday.

As of April, 6,299 units of high-priced cars were registered nationwide, according to a report from Rep. Yang Kyung-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, citing data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Vehicles priced between 300 million and 500 million won hit 5,006 units, while the ones priced at over 500 million won came to 1,293 units.

The super-luxury car brands sold in Korea include Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Mercedes-Maybach.

During the January-April period of this year, newly registered cars priced between 300 and 500 million won stood at 323 units, up by 86 units compared to last year. Those exceeding 500 million won increased by 6 units to 77 in the cited period.

The number of 300 million-500 million won cars registered last year jumped 5.6 times compared with six years ago, reaching 1,115 units. Vehicles priced over 500 million won surged approximately 10-fold to 267 units in the same period.

Korea has become a strategically important market for ultra-luxury car brands, with their top executives making a series of visits to the country in recent months.

In March, Bentley Motors Chairman and CEO Adrian Hallmark visited Korea and stressed that the nation topped the list for the Asia-Pacific market, selling a record high number of 775 units last year.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO Torsten Muller-Otvos also visited Korea in the same month for the Asia premiere of the carmaker’s first electric vehicle, Spectre. Last year’s sales recorded an all-time high of 234 units in 2022.

Lamborghini also sold more than 400 units for the first time here in the cited period, placing South Korea as the car brand’s eighth-largest market in the world and No.1 in the Asia Pacific region.

By Byun Hye-jin(hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)