In the past decade, the number of imported cars in South Korea has surged by 2 million, now accounting for 13% of the total registered vehicles in the country. As of the end of last year, there were a total of 3,508,876 registered imported cars in South Korea, a sixfold increase from 2011. The data, based on records from the Korea Imported Automobile Association (KAIDA) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, indicates that imported cars make up 13.3% of the total 26,297,919 vehicles registered nationwide.
Mercedes-Benz and BMW are leading brands, with Mercedes-Benz holding the highest market share among imported car brands at 22.9%, followed by BMW at 20.5%. Regionally, Gyeonggi-do has the highest number of registered imported cars at 26.8%, followed by Seoul at 19.5%.
Regarding the age of these vehicles, about 79.8% are less than 10 years old, with 41.8% being less than 5 years old. In the segment of commercial vehicles, Volvo Trucks holds the highest market share, representing 0.5% of all imported vehicle registrations but 35.8% of imported commercial vehicle registrations.