South Korea is emerging as a big market for luxury carmakers as Korean consumers are buying more BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars than their peers in richer countries.

According to BMW Korea on Sunday, South Koreans were the second-largest buyers of the new 5-series in September at 3,200 units, after the United States at 3,600 units. Britain was third at 2,500, followed by Germany at 1,500 and Japan at 800.

Mercedes-Benz sold 5,606 units of its E-class model in Korea last month, making it the best-selling foreign car brand in the country for four straight months, according to Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).

Koreans bought 37,723 Mercedes cars in the first six months of this year, making the country fifth after China, the U.S., Germany and the U.K. It outranked Italy, Japan and France - countries whose Mercedes sales were higher than Korea’s last year.

Koreans’ demand for supercars is also on a rapid rise.

Annual sales of Ferrari in Korea, which stood at 50 units five years ago, surged to 120 last year. California T, the cheapest Ferrari model, has a price tag of about 290 billion won ($256,070). Korea ranked fourth in Ferrari sales in the Asia-Pacific region excluding China, after Japan, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

By Park Chang-young and Kim Hyo-jin

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