April 26, 2024

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German luxury carmaker BMW hopes that its remodeled compact sedan, the all-new 3 Series, will help it recover from its sluggish sales in South Korea this year, company officials said on April 11.

BMW’s 3 Series, the benchmark for compact luxury sports sedans, has been one of the carmaker’s best-selling models here together with the 5 Series.

But BMW Group Korea has suffered a sharp decline in sales of BMW and Mini brand models in the wake of dozens of engine fires caused by faulty exhaust gas recirculation coolers and pipes, mainly in the 520d model, last year.

The company sold a combined 59,715 BMW and Mini vehicles in 2018, down 14 percent from 69,186 units a year earlier.

So far this year, the slump in its sales has not shown signs of letting up.

“The seventh-generation 320d and 330i models, the first fully refreshed models in seven years, are expected to help improve sales in Korea this year,” a BMW official said during a media test-drive event held in Yangpyeong, just east of Seoul.

In its extended efforts to boost sales here, BMW said it will also introduce the M340i model, the first M performance model among the 3 series, in the Korean market later this year.

The six-cylinder gasoline model comes with a unique laser light technology that can light up 500 meters ahead and the “driving assistant plus” function that allows the car to remember the track it has driven and to reverse for up to 50 meters, BMW said.

The fully redesigned BMW 3 Series comes with a wider and sportier character, borrowing the same expressive face first pioneered in the 5 and 7 Series.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)