SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Imported car sales in South Korea posted a double-digit growth in the first month of this year due to strong demand for luxury German models, industry data showed Tuesday.
The number of foreign luxury car sales was 21,075 in January, up 26.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).
German carmaker Mercedes-Benz was the top foreign seller in the South Korean market in January, with the monthly sales of 7,509 vehicles.
It was followed by German automaker BMW, which sold 5,407 vehicles in January. Lexus came next with the sales of 1,236 vehicles, trailed by U.S. carmaker Ford with the sales of 1,007 cars.
Among the imported cars sold in January, gasoline vehicles accounted for 51.2 percent, surpassing the diesel models that took up 40.5 percent.
European models accounted for 78.9 percent in market share in January, followed by Japanese cars with 14.3 percent and U.S. automobiles with 6.8 percent.
