German luxury automaker Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) is on a roll in South Korea with its auto sales volume hitting a historic high last year thanks to its best-selling car model BMW 5 Series.

BMW Korea said Wednesday that it in Korea has delivered a record high of 59,624 units in full 2017, jumping 21.2 percent from a year ago. It is the first time for the company to sell more than 50,000 units a year under a single brand.

BMW has been tightly competing against another German premium car maker Mercedes-Benz for the No.1 title in the Korean import car market. The latest winning score for the former comes after it in November brought down the latter from the peak it stayed for the previous five months.

By model, new BMW 5 Series sold total 24,220 units last year, up a whopping 43.0 percent from the previous year. In particular, new BMW 520d sold 9,688 units, up 22.5 percent on year, securing the title of best-selling imported car in Korea for the second year in a row.

Other models also fared well. BMW X Series recorded a growth in sales across the board with total sales volume jumping 25.4 percent on year to 9,613 units last year.

Moreover, the automaker’s compact sedan brand MINI renewed its best-ever record with its annual sales volume rising 10.8 percent on year to 9,562 units last year. In December, it sold 1,186 units, hitting an all-time monthly high.

By Kim Jung-hwan and Cho Jeehyun

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