Electric vehicle brand Tesla topped the import car market in the first half of the year with a market share of more than 30%. With another EV brand BYD also seeing its first-half sales surge more than 800% from a year earlier, EVs accounted for nearly half of the overall imported car market.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) on July 3, cumulative new registrations of imported passenger cars from January to June this year came to 184,032, up 33.2% from the same period last year (138,120). Sales in June alone were 38,059, up 37% from a year earlier.
By brand, Tesla sold 55,139 units in the first half, taking 30.5% of the total market. Sales jumped 192.2% from a year earlier, and its share widened by 16.6 percentage points. It ranked No. 1 among all brands.
BMW ranked second with a 21.3% market share. It sold 39,150 units in the first half, up 2.3% from the same period last year. No. 3 Mercedes-Benz (16.2% share) sold 29,776 units, down 8.6%. BMW and Mercedes' shares shrank by 6.5 percentage points and 7.4 percentage points, respectively, from a year earlier.
BYD, which entered Korea last year, sold 11,675 units. That figure skyrocketed 807.9% from a year earlier. Its market share also expanded sharply from 0.93% to 6.34%, ranking fourth.
Other top sellers were Lexus (7,819 units), Volvo (7,470), Audi (7,337), Toyota (5,187), Porsche (4,322) and Mini (4,091).
By fuel type, thanks to the rise of Tesla and BYD, the EV share expanded to 45.5% in the first half from 23.5% a year earlier. EV sales during this period were 83,790, up 158.5% year over year. Looking at June alone, EV share topped half at 51.1% (19,453 units).
The best-selling vehicle in the first half was Tesla's "Model Y Premium," with 31,767 units. It was followed by ▲ BMW "520" (7,491 units) ▲ Tesla "Model Y L" (6,947) ▲ Mercedes-Benz "E200" (5,519) ▲ Tesla "Model Y Premium Long Range" (4,645).
For June, ▲ Tesla "Model Y L" (5,155 units) ▲ Tesla "Model Y Premium" (3,318) ▲ BYD "Dolphin" (2,747) ▲ BMW "520" (1,452) ranked among the top best-sellers.