Japan, German automakers compete in Korean market

German and Japanese automakers are fighting a heated battle for top spot in the country's imported car market.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, Honda is currently the top selling imported automobile brand with 4,136 units sold during the first seven months of the year.

Honda, whose local sales jumped by more than 120 per cent from the same period last year, was last year's fifth-best-selling auto brand. Honda Korea officials attributed the dramatic rise in sales to the popularity of the company's compact sport utility vehicle CR-V, which accounted for more than half of the company's sales this year.

Germany's BMW was in close pursuit of the Japanese automaker with 4,132 units.

Toyota Motor Corp's luxury brand Lexus, which took top spot among imported auto brands for two consecutive years in 2005 and 2006, slipped to third place despite an increase of almost 12 percent in sales from last year.

During the same period, all but three of twenty KAIDA-registered importers of foreign auto brands saw their sales rise. The three foreign brands whose sales have dropped from the same period last year are Ford, Rolls-Royce and Saab.

Although two other US-based auto brands available in Korea - Cadillac and Chrysler - saw their sales rise, the combined market share of the three companies remain much lower than that of European or Japanese brands.

Japanese and European car makers' shares of the local market for imported cars were recorded at over 30 and 55 per cent, respectively, during the period. The three US automakers held around 11 per cent market share.