SEOUL, KOREA- Despite the global economic slump, domestic car sales marked a positive year-on-year growth of 3 percent. The demand for new cars increased although Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors suffered a slight decline in domestic sales due to the growing popularity of import cars.
According to industry sources on September 4, domestic car sales totaled 1,011,532 units in the January-August period of this year, including 910,000 units of domestically made cars and 103,417 units of import cars, up 3 percent from 981,798 units a year ago.
Korea’s five major car makers marked a slight growth of 1.1 percent. The overall growth in domestic car sales was driven mainly by import cars which posted a 23.7-percent growth in domestic sales during the period.
The domestic sales of import cars reached 103,417 units during the first eight months of this year, up about 20,000 units from a year ago. BMW achieved a double-digit growth of 20.4 percent, while Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, and Audi posted a 21.9 percent, 48.9 percent, and 32.9 percent growth, respectively.
