APD | South Korea’s car imports drop in 2019

By APD writer Alice

South Korea imported 244,780 cars last year, a decrease of 6.1% compared to 2018, according to the Korea Automobile Importers Association (KAIDA).

Of which, Japanese brand cars numbered over 36,600, down 19% from the previous year, partly due to the influence of the boycott movement of Japanese goods in the Korean market.

In particular, Nissan cars were 3,049, down 39.7% while Toyota cars were 16,774, down 36.7%. Among Japanese brands, only Honda vehicles increased 10.1% to 8,760.

However, at the end of last year, Japanese automakers actively implemented discount policies, so sales in December 2019 were higher than a year earlier.

According to the newly released figures, the global sales of South Korean carmakers in 2019 decreased by 3.8% compared to the previous year, as the slowing global economic growth affected demand in the local and world markets.

For the whole year of 2019, the total sales of five car manufacturers in South Korea, including Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Corp. and SsangYong Motor Co., declined 320,000 units from 2018, to about 7.92 million. It was mainly due to low demand in China, the world's largest car market, and other emerging markets, amid a slowing global economic growth and uncertainties deriving from the prolonged trade tensions between the US and China.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)