SEOUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Foreign car sales in South Korea hit a record monthly high last month on the back of robust demand for foreign luxury brands, industry data showed Friday.
Sales of imported cars surged 30.4 percent from a year earlier to 15,733 vehicles in March, topping the previous record high of 14,953 units tallied in July last year, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).
The foreign brand sales maintained its double-digit growth after jumping more than 30 percent in February.
The double-digit growth came amid solid demand for luxury brands made by German automakers. Foreign cars became popular among South Korean consumers following free trade deals with Europe and the United States.
German automaker BMW ranked first in terms of best-selling brand, with 3,511 vehicles sold here in March. It was trailed by Mercedes-Benz with 2,532 units and Audi with 2,457 units. German carmaker Volkswagen ranked fourth with 2,255 cars sold, and Ford came next with 792 units.
European cars were most popular, with 12,517 vehicles sold last month. The figure accounted for 79.5 percent of the total, followed by Japanese brands with a 12.6 percent share and U.S. models with 7.8 percent.
BMW's 520d was the most popular model with 727 units sold, beating Volkswagen's Tiguan 2.0 TDI BlueMotion with 643 units sold. It was followed by Mercedes-Benz's E220 CDI with 580 units.
Vehicles with an engine capacity of 2-liter or less were most popular, posting a 53 percent share. It was trailed by cars with an engine displacement of between 2-3 liters, which took up 33.9 percent.
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