BMW took the best-selling foreign-car brand title with 40,174 vehicles or 20.4 percent of the total imported vehicles sold, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).
Three other German brands ranked 2nd-4th. They were Mercedes-Benz (35,213 units sold), Volkswagen (30,719 vehicles) and Audi (27,647 cars).
Ford placed fifth with 8,718 automobiles sold, followed by Toyota (6,840), Mini (6,572), Lexus (6,464) and Chrysler (5,244).
Vehicles with an engine capacity of less than 2,000cc accounted for 54.7 percent or 107,490 units of the total imported cars sold.
Diesel-powered cars enjoyed growth in sales, backed by the appeal of higher fuel efficiency. They constituted 67.8 percent of the total, compared with 28.2 percent for gasoline-powered vehicles, 3.9 percent for hybrid cars and 0.1 percent for electric vehicles.
Foreign-brand cars took up a 14.2 share of South Korea's auto market in the first 11 months of 2014, up from 10 percent tallied in 2012.
"The robust sales growth of imported car brands last year was led midsize and small cars, diesel-powered vehicles and young customers as well as distributors' active marketing activities," Yoon Dae-sung, a top executive of the KAIDA, said.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com