SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's imported car sales grew last month due to solid demand for German luxury models, industry data showed Monday.
The number of imported vehicles sold here was 23,850 in August, up 7.4 percent from the same month last year, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association.
It was attributable to higher demand for German brands, offsetting the continued shortage in semiconductors used to make vehicles.
German automaker BMW ranked first in terms of automotive sales here among foreign companies by selling 7,303 units last month.
Another German carmaker Mercedes-Benz came next with local sales of 5,940 units, followed by Audi with 2,310 units, Chevrolet with 1,067 units, and Volkswagen with 1,043 units, respectively.
The number of European models sold here was 19,927 in August, accounting for 83.6 percent of the total.
U.S. and Japanese brands recorded market shares of 10.4 percent and 6.1 percent each last month.
For the first eight months of this year, the domestic sales of imported cars stood at 176,282 units, down 9.3 percent compared to the same period last year.
The supply disruptions of chips led to lower sales of foreign vehicles this year. ■