South Korean vehicle import sales surge 37% in June

Industry
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Summary · why it matters

Sales of imported light passenger vehicles in South Korea jumped 37% to 38,059 units in June 2026, up from 29,860 units a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association. In the first half of 2026, import sales surged 33% to 184,032 units, strongly outperforming the country's five main automakers, whose combined domestic sales fell 3% to 663,491 units. Tesla led the import segment with deliveries nearly tripling to 56,139 units, capturing a 30% share, though it faced criticism for raising prices just after qualifying for new BEV incentives introduced in July. BMW slipped to second place with sales rising just over 2% to 39,150 units, while Mercedes-Benz sales fell 9% to 29,776 units. BYD made strong inroads with sales jumping ninefold to 7,023 units, but failed to qualify for the new points-based BEV subsidies and plans to focus more on plug-in hybrids.

Impact on stocks 4

Electrification & Mobility± Mixed · 2 stocks
Tesla Inc
TSLA
▲ PositiveDemandrelevance

Tesla deliveries nearly tripled to 56,139 units, capturing 30% import share.

Consumer Discretionary · 1 stocks
Others · 1 stocks
BYD Co Ltd Class A
002594
▼ NegativeRegulationrelevance

BYD failed to qualify for new BEV subsidies, hurting competitiveness.

Theme Impact 3

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