SEOUL, May 7, 2024 (BSS/Xinhua) - South Korea's imported car sale rose for the second straight month in April due to strong demand for foreign luxury vehicles, industry data showed Tuesday.

 The number of imported vehicles sold here was 21,560 in April, up 3.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).

 It continued to go up after growing 6.0 percent in March. For the first four months of this year, the imported vehicle sale declined 7.8 percent to 76,143 units compared to the same period of last year.

 German carmaker Mercedes-Benz ranked first in terms of automotive sales here among foreign companies by selling 6,683 units last month.

 Another German automaker BMW came next with the domestic sale of 5,750 units, followed by U.S. carmaker Tesla with 1,722 units, Volvo with 1,210 units, Lexus with 920 units and Toyota with 893 units.

 The number of European models sold here came to 16,856 last month, accounting for 78.2 percent of the total. U.S. and Japanese brands recorded market shares of 12.6 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively.