April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Sales of imported commercial vehicles jumped 22 percent last month from a year earlier on replacement demands, a local automobile association said on Sept. 12.

The number of newly registered imported commercial vehicles climbed to 367 units in August from 302 a year ago, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association said in a statement. 

Local demand for imported trucks, buses and vans is on the rise as those vehicles are viewed as being more advanced than domestically produced rivals and are competitive in terms of endurance and maintenance costs.

In the January-August period, the number of imported commercial cars sold in Korea rose 6.1 percent to 3,098 units from 2,921 in the year-ago period, it said.

The five major imported commercial car brands are MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Trucks, Scania and Iveco. They sell trucks, buses and vans.

Imported commercial vehicles currently account for the lion’s share of the domestic commercial car market, but their exact market share is not available.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)