[su_heading size=”22″]Thanks to a surge in free trade agreements, South Korea’s long protected industry are for the first time in history facing foreign competition. The local brands rule, but foreign players are starting to see significant sales gains. [/su_heading]According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) a total of 13,852 new foreign-made cars were newly registered in 2013. This is up from 31.2% from 10,556 units in the same month of last year.
Reports this week indicate that that import car sales are making a dent in this once exclusive domestically saturated market. earnings surged nearly 2.5 times in 2014 with the top 10 foreign carmakers posting a combined net profit of 197.7 billion won ($182.55 million) last year –that’s up a whopping 147.8 percent from 79.8 billion won in 2013.
Market researcher Chaebul.com compiled the data from reports filed by the carmakers to financial agencies.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]Koreans have made it clear that their preference among all the new more affordable options is definitely European makes.[/su_pullquote]
Audi Volkswagen Korea, was the top foreign carmaker by sales, and saw its net profit jump 30.1 percent to 40.7 billion won, while BMW Korea climbed 22.4 percent to 20.1 billion won. Mercedes-Benz Korea was the biggest winner in 2014 with its profits soaring 180.6 percent to 96.9 billion won.
Newcomers to the list were Jaguar Land Rover Korea and Porsche Korea . Jaguar Land Rover’s sales increased 40.8 percent to 474 billion won, while its net profit jumped to 7 billion won last year from 2.1 billion won a year earlier. Porsche Korea, since its establishment in the Korean market a mere two years ago in 2013, recorded sales of 287.8 billion won and net profit of 12 billion.
FCA Korea, which imports Fiat and Chrysler brands, turned profitable. This following areported a 1.5 billion won net loss in 2013.
American and Japan brands still way behind.
Koreans have made it clear that their preference among all the new more affordable options is definitely European makes.
European cars accounted for 82.2 percent of total sales in March, followed by 11.4 percent by Japanese cars and 6.4 percent by U.S. brands.
In terms of English size, 53.6 percent of all foreign makes were smaller than 2,000cc, with those ranging between 2,000cc and 3,000cc making up 32.7 percent of the total.