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Volkswagen's car sales in S.Korea post double-digit fall on emissions scandal

Xinhua, June 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

German carmaker Volkswagen saw its auto sales in South Korea post a double-digit decline this year due to damages to its brand image caused by emissions fabrication scandal, industry data showed on Tuesday.

For the first five months of this year, foreign luxury car sales amounted to 93,314 units in the local market, down 2.3 percent from the same period of last year, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).

During the same period, sales of Volkswagen and its affiliate Audi reached 10,629 units and 10,246 units each, down 25.7 percent and 17.4 percent respectively.

Faster fall in the German carmakers compared with other foreign auto brands came on the back of Volkswagen's emissions fabrication scandal in its diesel models in 2015.

German automakers, including Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes Benz, sold a total of 60,552 units during the January-May period, down 7.6 percent from a year earlier. Their market share declined to 64.9 percent this year from 68.6 percent last year.

Diesel car imports during the five-month period declined 4.2 percent to 61,991 units.

In May alone, foreign luxury car sales increased 5.9 percent from a year earlier to 19,470 units. Foreign car sales fluctuated this year on a monthly basis after peaking at 24,366 units in December last year.

German carmaker BMW was the top-selling manufacturer in May, with sales of 4,651 units here. It was followed by Mercedes Benz with sales of 3,148 units, Audi with 2,336 units and Volkswagen with 2,326 units respectively. Enditem