3.5 million imported cars run in Korea..2 million units increase in 10 years

Apr 01, 2025
















Photo courtesy : carguy(www.carguy.kr)









The Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) said that as of the end of last year, a total of 3.58,876 imported cars were registered, and the number increased by more than 2 million in 10 years. This is a six-fold increase from 598,558 vehicles in 2011, accounting for 13.3% of the total 26,297,919 cars registered with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.



















It appeared as an area of

. Seoul followed with 19.5% (683,768), followed by Incheon with 8.8% (307,703), Busan with 8.3% (292,769), and Gyeongnam with 6.2% (216,816). In the metropolitan area, Incheon ranked the highest. The total number of registered vehicles (Vehicles in use) refers to the total number of vehicles operating in Korea based on data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
















As a result of the analysis of the age of imported cars, about 79.8% were less than 10 years old. Less than five years were the most common with 41.8% (1.466,807); more than five years to less than 10 years were 38.0% (1333,445 units), and 15.6% (546,487) were more than 10 years to less than 15 years. For those aged 15 to less than 20 years, 125,327 units accounted for 3.6%, and for more than 20 years, 36,810 units (1.0%).




Mercedes-Benz's 22.9% (802,494) car brand has the highest share of imported cars operating in Korea, followed by BMW 20.5% (724,472), Audi 6.6% (233,140), Volkswagen 6.1% (212,775), and Lexus 4.1% (144,105). Volvo 3.5 percent (121,537 units), Mini 3.4 percent (119,854), Toyota 3.2 percent (113,090 units), Ford 2.8 percent (97,369) and Tesla 2.7 percent (93,186) were also included in the top 10.




Volvo trucks (18,123 units) accounted for the highest share of commercial vehicle brands. Volvo Trucks accounted for 0.5% of all registered imported cars and 35.8% of commercial vehicles. Scania (11,570), Mercedes-Benz (19,980), Mann (9579), Isuzu (2863), Ibeko (2,698), BYD (1925), Mercedes-Benz van (944), and Hino (377).

















Over the past 30 years, imported cars have contributed to the development of the automobile market by expanding and diversifying consumers' choices with the emergence of new brands and models in Korea, said Jeong Yoon-young, vice chairman of KAIDA. "The Korea Automobile Importers Association will continue to fulfill its role as an information provider that is the basis of the automobile industry by providing various statistics, analysis data, and research and survey results related to imported cars."





The statistics provided by KAIDA are based on the registration criteria of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and total registration statistics can be searched by region, brand, and model from 2011. More detailed statistics are available at the KAIDA website Statistics Center (www.kaida.co.kr/ko/statistics/NewRegistList.do) ). In commemoration of its 30th anniversary last month, KAIDA completely reorganized its website and improved it so that users can more intuitively check information on imported cars.











This article was translated by Naver AI translator.