Imported car sales in S. Korea rebound in March on tax cuts

Imported car sales in South Korea rebounded first in three months on the back of consumption tax cuts, industry group data showed on Wednesday.

Foreign luxury car sales, which were newly registered in March, stood at 24,094 units, 8.1 percent higher than 22,280 tallied a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).

It marked the first increase after falling in January and February. For the first three months of this year, foreign car sales reached 55,999 units, down 5.0 percent from the same period of last year.

The March rebound came as the government extended consumption tax discounts on cars to boost the lackluster domestic demand.

German luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz was the most popular brand, with sales of 5,162 units last month. It was followed by BMW with 4,317 units, Volkswagen with 3,663 units and Audi with 2,552 units.

European cars were most popular with a market share of 80.7 percent in March. Japanese models ranked second with a share of 12.4 percent, trailed by U.S. cars with a 6.9-percent market share.

South Korean consumers favored foreign cars with an engine capacity of less than 2 liters, accounting for 53.2 percent of the total. Foreign cars with a displacement of 2-3 inters took up 39.6 percent last month. Enditem