Sales of imported vehicles jump 15.6% in July

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 15.6 percent last month from a year earlier, helped by new car models and the free trade agreement with Europe that lowered prices, a trade association said Wednesday.

A total of 8,859 imported vehicles were sold here in July, compared with 7,666 units sold a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association.

Sales in July, however, dipped 1.2 percent from the 8,964 cars sold a month earlier.

“Sales of imported vehicles rose thanks to the FTA with the European Union that went into effect on July 1, and the unveiling of new car models during the month,” said Yoon Dae-sung, a senior manager at KAIDA.

He added that while sales did rise compared to the year before, numbers fell off slightly from June mainly due to the unseasonably long monsoon season. 

(Yonhap News)