Xinhua reported on Nov. 4 that South Korea’s imported passenger‑car registrations jumped 29.3 percent in October to 31,117, a rise driven by explosive demand for electric vehicles and German luxury models.
For the first ten months of 2026, 310,846 imported vehicles were sold, up 24.6 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association. Tesla led foreign‑maker sales with 9,165 units, followed by Mercedes‑Benz with 6,744, BMW with 5,633, Volvo with 1,682 and Chinese automaker BYD with 1,594.
European models accounted for 17,573 sales in October, taking 56.5 percent of the total. U.S., Japanese and Chinese brands recorded market shares of 30.0 percent, 8.0 percent and 5.5 percent respectively. By fuel type, battery‑electric vehicles made up 46.4 percent of sales, followed closely by hybrids at 45.9 percent, gasoline vehicles at 6.8 percent and diesel models at 0.9 percent.
Source: Xinhua, “S. Korea’s imported car sales jump 29.3 pct in October on EV demand.”
