Amid anti-Japan setiment, Japanese car sales in South Korea has been dropping for four months. Meanwhile, other imported cars sales went up this year as well as Hyundai's newly launched Grandeur model breaking records in the number of pre-purchases on its first day. Our Choi Jeong-yoon reports.
It's been four months since the 'No No Japan' boycott movement sparked in Korea, prompting Japanese brands to incur huge losses. In particular, Japanese carmakers have lost a significant share in Korea's market, paving the way for other foreign brands.
While the total number of imported car sales in the country rose 6-point-2 percent on-year last month,...sales of Japanese vehicles plunged 58 percent to roughly 19-hundred vehicles from 47-hundred during the same period.
The Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, with its recent data, confirmed that the number of Japanese cars has been plummeting continuously since Koreans started boycotting in July,...setting the total number of purchases so this year far to a 13-point-one percent fall on year.
In contrast, German carmaker Mercedes Benz sold the most number of imported cars in Korea, with more than 8-thousand models this month alone, a 26 percent increase on-year.
Korea's own automakers have also felt the aftermath of the boycott.
Hyundai Motor for instance, set a new record on Monday with the release of the New Grandeur, which has now set the record of being the most sold car on a single day.
Choi Jeong-yoon, Arirang News.