2 weeks Ago By [email protected](KoreaTimes)
An Alpine A110 R Ultime car is displayed during the media day at the 2024 Paris Auto Show in Paris, France, Oct. 14. Reuters-Yonhap Alpine's A110 sports coupe available for sale by end of 2024 By Lee Min-hyung A group of global carmakers — Renault, Volkswagen, Stellantis and Geely — are considering bringing their auto brands to Korea amid the growing purchasing power of local customers and the increase in the market share of imported vehicles here, according to data and industry officials, Sunday.
Last month, Alpine CEO Philippe Krief made public its plan to tap into the Korean market in 2026. The sports car brand is under the umbrella of Renault Group. The company plans to sell 20 limited A110 flagship sports coupes here by the end of this year ahead of its full-fledged penetration here.
Renault Korea is rapidly bouncing back in the Korean market with its new Grand Koleos premium SUV. Sales for the vehicle surged by 340 percent in October from a year earlier. Volkswagen Group is also rumored to be introducing its affordable brand, Skoda, to Korea, in a bid to make up for Volkswagen Korea’s falling vehicle sales.
The local subsidiary of the German automaker sold some 6,000 vehicles between January and September, and the numbers for its 2024 annual auto sales here are widely forecast to fall below 10,000 for the first time in five years. This is not the first time that the carmaker has considered launching the Skoda brand here. In 2015, the brand prepared for its debut here, but the plan was protracted after Volkswagen Group was mired in the global emission scandal, better known as Dieselgate.
People walk in front of a Zeekr 009 electric vehicle being showcased at SXSW Sydney, in Sydney, Australia Oct. 14. Reuters-Yonhap Geely Auto Group’s premium electric vehicle brand, Zeekr, is also on its way to making its debut here around 2026.
The carmaker is searching for dealerships here, and recently appointed a Korean sales expert as its head for the local office. All eyes are also on whether Stellantis Group’s Alfa Romeo high-performance luxury vehicle brand will be available for sale here. No specifics have so far been confirmed, but the rumor continues to surface on Korean customers’ strong purchasing power, evidenced by the solid sales of German luxury vehicles.
The growing preference of local customers for imported vehicles is also considered another key factor, attracting more foreign auto brands here. According to data from the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, more than 270,000 imported cars were sold here last year, accounting for almost 20 percent of the total vehicle market share. Back in the early 2000s, only some 20,000 imported vehicles were sold in Korea.
“Prices for imported vehicles have become more affordable in the past few decades, which enabled more customers to consider purchasing overseas cars,” an official from a carmaker said. “On top of that, prices for domestic auto brands have sharply increased, so imported cars have been able to gain price competitiveness against homegrown rivals.”.
