The trusted voice of the industry
for more than 30 years

German car makers gain ground in South Korea

Mercedes and BMW both sold more cars in South Korea than General Motors (GM) for the first-time last month.
Posted on 07 March, 2018
German car makers gain ground in South Korea

Demonstrating how premium German brands are growing in popularity and that consumers are moving away from GM after it announced a major restructuring. BMW saw the biggest jump with February sales nearly doubling to 6,118 vehicles, industry data showed, which was just a little behind Mercedes which led the imported car rankings with 6,192 cars, up 12 per cent from the same period a year earlier. GM’s announcement last month that it plans to shut down of one of its four factories in South Korea and was weighing the fate of the three other plants resulted in domestic retail sales nearly halving in February to 5,804. With consumers worried about loss of after-care services and residual value, GM lost its long-held spot as South Korea’s No. 3 automaker, slipping to sixth place.