The electric vehicle market share has surged to 16%, while diesel has plummeted to 9%.
In September, imports of new cars totaled 23,928 units. The Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association reported on the 6th that the number of newly registered imported passenger cars increased slightly by 0.3% from 23,850 in August to 23,928 in September. The cumulative figure for the year until September stands at 200,210 units, down 6.7% from the previous year’s 214,668 units.
Sales of pure electric vehicles reached 4,024 units, accounting for 16.8% of total sales, marking more than a doubling from last month’s 1,699 units (7.1%). The recently launched Volkswagen ID.4 and Audi Q4 e-tron recorded sales of 667 and 518 units, respectively, further boosting electric vehicle sales volume.
Last month, diesel models held a 12.0% market share with 2,859 units, but this month they fell to 2,214 units (9.3%), dropping the market share into single digits.
The rankings for brand sales also shifted. Mercedes-Benz, which had been leading in cumulative sales, was overtaken by BMW. From January to September of this year, BMW’s sales increased by 10.1% to 57,750 units compared to 52,441 units during the same period last year. Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz reported sales of 56,074 units, down 9.9% from last year’s 62,232 units. In September, BMW also showed an increase in sales, reaching 7,405 units, a 1.4% rise from 7,303 units in the previous month, whereas Mercedes-Benz saw a decline to 5,481 units, down 7.7% from 5,940 units last month.
The best-selling models in September were the BMW 5 Series (1,865 units), Mercedes-Benz E-Class (1,348 units), and GLE (791 units).
By Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr