Supercar sales almost triple in Korea despite economic slump

Luxury car sales were exempted from the consumer slump in Korea, with sales of supercars costing 300 million won ($255,602) or more nearly tripled from a year ago.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) on Sunday, imported cars priced at more than 300 million won have sold 360 units worth 147.8 billion won from January to November, almost tripling from 123 units last year.

Sales volume of vehicles priced at 200 million won or above also jumped 32.1 percent to 3,920 units, equivalent to over 900 billion won, data showed.

It is contrary to the overall auto market grappling with subdued demand from the economic downturn. The entire imported car market also saw cumulative sales fall 10.6 percent on year to 214,708 units.

Annual sales of import vehicles for full 2019 are forecast to fall by the biggest margin since 2016 when the country’s total import car sales fell 7.6 percent on year due to German car brands’ emission rigging scandal, according to market experts.

Encouraged by strong appetite for supercars in Korea, global luxury car brands are now actively focusing to expand the country’s super luxury car market.

Most of the super premium vehicles were purchased by corporate names rather than in individuals, according to data. By brand, 96 out of 118 Bentley models sold this year in Korea were registered under company names, together with 137 out of 155 Lamborghini cars, 132 out of 150 Rolls-Royce vehicles, and 914 out of 1,113 Maserati models.

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