Foreign auto sales dip 24% in July on Volkswagen woes

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea dropped sharply from a year earlier in July due partly to a large cut in sales of Volkswagen and Audi cars mired in the fake emissions scandal, industry data showed Thursday.

According to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, 15,730 imported cars were sold here last month, down 24 percent from the same month last year.

From a month earlier, the July tally also marked a 32.9 percent plunge.

Such a sharp decline was partly attributed to the termination of a temporary tax cut on new car purchases.

The June 30 termination of the tax incentive has also led to a cut in sales of locally produced cars.

In July, domestic sales of locally produced vehicles plunged 10.6 percent on-year to 121,144, automakers here said earlier. The figure is a turnaround from the 10.9 percent on-year spike in the January-June period.

However, the cut in sales of imported cars here last month was also attributed to a plunge in sales of Audi and Volkswagen cars, whose local importer and distributor is accused of forging documents to obtain government certification for their sales here.

On Tuesday, the environment ministry revoked sales certification of 80 vehicle models sold by Audi Volkswagen Korea.

In July, only 425 Volkswagen cars were sold here, down 76.8 percent from a year earlier, while sales of Audi vehicles also plunged 42.5 percent on-year to 2,638, according to the KAIDA.

Meanwhile, sales of imported cars in the January-July period came to 132,479, down 5.7 percent from the same period last year. (Yonhap)