Yannis

30-Somethings Favor VWs; 50s Prefer Lexus

Volkswagens are for those in their 30s, Hondas are for the 40s, and Lexus for the 50s and 60s, according to a recent survey of preference by age for foreign cars.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA), of 7,022 imported cars sold in the first half of this year, Honda was found to be the favorite for Koreans in their 40s, their purchases making up about 29 percent or 302 vehicles.

Over 26 percent or the biggest slice among people in their 30s purchased Volkswagens, with their number standing at 265.

The importers’ report showed that 17 teenagers also bought VWs in the first half.

Lexus, Toyota’s luxury brand, is the most favored among people in their 50s and 60s, respectively buying 283 or 22.3 percent and 158 premium Lexus cars or 11.9 percent.

BMW Mini is the most popular model among men and women in their 20s with over 200 sold to this age group.

In the meantime, the association pointed out that corporations favor Lexus, having 3,251 on lease contracts.

By brand, BMW was the top seller with 3,041, Mercedes-Benz came second with 2,649 and Audi third with 2,276.

Companies purchased a total of 13,171 foreign cars in the year’s first half, according to KAIDA.

As for best-selling models, Lexus’ ES350 topped the list with the sale of 1,156 units, followed by Audi’s A6 2.4 that sold 960 units.

Association officials said that the car market has became more segmented, catering to a wide range of age groups with different preferences for specific foreign automobiles in accordance with their styles, tastes and income levels.

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Giannis

i always wanted to know what is the average age of a volvo driver... it should be above 50 up until 2-3 years before...

Osnabrueck

Well wait a minute. If this tells us anything, it's that Koreans don't buy foreign cars.

Snake Vargas

Actually, I think that's the company purchases one. This seems to be the private buyers' figure..

Yeah, it does. Australia has a population of 20 million. There are just under one million cars sold in total per year. I have no idea what the proportion of local to import sales is, but it's not relevant here. South Korea has a population of around 48 million. Make up your own minds..

Germaniac

FYI, I think 80% of cars sold in Australia are imports (this includes cars like the Holden Astra or Ford Explorer, 'Aussie' brands but overseas cars...)

Snake Vargas

Thanks for the info

We only have limited variety of cars made locally, so there's a good reason to import. The import tariffs also aren't so high as to make imports unattractive. South Korea is different on the first count - from my impressions, they have lots of domestics there, like in the Japanese domestic market (markets outside of Japan only get a part of what they offer domestically). The variety of cars is such that they really have something to suit most people.

I'm not sure about the taxes, but that may or may not also be a factor.

This all comes back to the fact that people don't buy many imports in Korea, so the numbers aren't that telling, and even less so considering the entry prices of the brands in question.