BMW overtakes Mercedes-Benz as top-selling foreign carmaker in S.Korea

BMW has overtaken Mercedes-Benz in the South Korean market, regaining the top spot in the foreign automobile sales segment for the first time in eight years.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) on Thursday, a total of 271,034 imported vehicles, excluding Tesla, were sold in Korea last year, down 4.4% from the previous year, with BMW ranking first among foreign brands with sales of 77,395 units. 

BMW, which has been battling Mercedes-Benz for the top spot every year, has become the best-selling foreign car company for the first time in eight years since 2015. 

Mercedes-Benz lost ground to BMW throughout last year, attempting to turn the tables with aggressive year-end discounts, but was dethroned by BMW with annual sales of 76,697 units. 

After BMW and Mercedes-Benz, Audi (17,868), Volvo (17,018), Lexus (13,561) and Porsche (11,355) took the third through sixth spots.

The best-selling model was the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (23,642 units), followed by the BMW 5 Series (21,411), Mercedes-Benz S-Class (11,017), Audi A6 (7,902), Lexus ES (7,839) and Mercedes-Benz GLE (7,253).

Write to Nan-Sae Bin at binthere@hankyung.com