Average sale price of imported cars in Korea up 6.7% in H1

The logos of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Tesla [Courtesy of each company]

Foreign automakers in South Korea sold fewer cars in South Korea in the first six months of this year from a year ago but the total sales value rose as companies focused on selling high-priced models in the local market to seek qualitative growth.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association and car data portal CarIsYou on Tuesday, 26 imported car brands, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Tesla, sold a total of 134,421 cars between January and June, down 2.4 percent from 137,755 units in the same period last year.

The total sales amount, however, stood at 12.7 trillion won ($9.8 billion), up 4.1 percent during the same period. The weighted average sales price of new imported cars, based on the actual number of units sold, applying the 3.5 percent individual consumption tax rate, was 94.75 million won in the first half of this year, up 6.7 percent from 88.77 million won last year.

The total sales amount and average price increased despite a decline in the number of units sold as foreign carmakers are going all-out to sell high-priced models.

Of the entire imported cars sold in Korea in the first six months of this year, 38,425 units were priced more than 100 million won, up 9.5 percent from a year ago.

Imported cars with a price tag of more than 100 million won accounted for 28.6 percent of the entire sales volume, up from 25.5 percent.

BMW, in the meantime, was the top seller in Korea with 38,106 units between January and June. The figure is up 1.5 percent from last year. The average sales price fell slightly by 0.1 percent to 88.63 million won from 88.7 million won.