À̹ÌÁö È®´ë [Photo by Kim Ho-young]
Luxury foreign cars costing $1 million or over have surged 74 percent on year in the first four months this year in South Korea, reflecting pent-up demand by the rich whereas ongoing Covid-19 woes still weigh down spending by the broader population.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) on Monday, imported cars priced at more than 100 million won ($9,415.91) have sold 20,203 units from January to April this year, jumping 74.1 percent from the same period a year earlier and far exceeding 20.7 percent gain in overall sales of import cars in Korea during the same period.
Since 97,486 foreign brands were sold in the first four months, one out of five had been a luxury car.
Luxury car sales topped 20,000 units for the first time in 2015 and rose to 23,821 units in 2017, 28,998 units in 2019 and record 43,158 units in 2020.
À̹ÌÁö È®´ë In the past, luxury cars were mostly purchased by companies. But individual purchase has jumped this year.
A total of 7,385 units were registered under individual names, up 140 percent on year to take up 36.6 percent of all import vehicles sold this year in Korea. The number of cars newly registered under corporate names also rose 50.3 percent to total 12,818 units during the period.
Supercar brands are also in high demand.
As for Lamborghini Huracán, all models priced at around 300-435 million won were fully booked for delivery of next eight months. Buyers from now on have to wait until next year to receive their orders.
The sales growth this year was mostly led by those in their 30s and 40s, according to data. Of all buyers, those in their 40s took up the largest 12.8 percent (2,592 units), 30s 9.5 percent (1,918 units), 50s 7.8 percent (1,582 units), 60s 5.6 percent (1,124 units) and teens and 20s 0.9 percent (139 units).
By Park Yun-gu and Lee Ha-yeon
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]