Tesla tops South Korea's import car market for 9 consecutive months
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared news of Tesla's ninth consecutive month at the top of South Korea's imported-car market on his social media, signaling his continued interest in the Korean market.
Musk posted "Tesla Korea" alongside a South Korean flag emoji on his X account Thursday (local time), reposting a message announcing Tesla's No. 1 ranking in domestic import car sales.
The reposted message said Tesla had held the top spot in South Korea's import car market for nine straight months, surpassing Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and that October registrations reached 9,165 units — a 110.7 percent increase from the same period last year. The post also included an image of the Tesla "T" logo superimposed on the taeguk symbol at the center of the South Korean flag.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA), Tesla recorded 9,165 new registrations in South Korea last month, making it the top-selling import brand. That figure accounted for 29.5 percent of all imported car registrations.
Tesla has held the No. 1 position in South Korea's import car market for nine consecutive months since February. October registrations were up 110.7 percent from 4,350 units in the same month last year, though they fell 25.9 percent from 12,372 units the previous month. It was the first time since February that monthly registrations had dropped below 10,000 units.
Cumulative registrations from January through October reached 98,313 units, up 105.0 percent from the same period last year. Tesla's cumulative import market share stands at 31.6 percent, putting it on the verge of surpassing 100,000 annual units.
This is not the first time Musk has shared a post related to the South Korean market. In June, when the Tesla Model Y topped monthly sales among passenger cars in South Korea, he reposted the news and wrote, "Korea is awesome."
In February, Musk shared a Tesla Korea job posting for AI chip design engineers, posting a South Korean flag emoji alongside an invitation for chip design, manufacturing and AI software talent in South Korea to join Tesla.
quq@heraldcorp.com
