Tesla, under the leadership of Elon Musk, has surged past Mercedes-Benz to claim the second spot among the highest sellers of imported vehicles in South Korea for the previous month, according to industry data revealed on Wednesday.
The Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association disclosed that the count of newly registered imported cars stood at 25,263 units in March, showing a 6 percent increase from 23,840 units recorded in the corresponding period last year.
Reports from Yonhap News Agency indicated that BMW led the pack with 6,549 units, closely trailed by Tesla at 6,025 units, and Mercedes-Benz at 4,197 units, respectively.
This occurrence marks the debut of Tesla outpacing Mercedes-Benz in terms of sales in South Korea. Lexus and Volvo secured the fourth and fifth positions, selling 1,218 units and 1,081 units, respectively.
Industry experts attributed Tesla's remarkable surge in sales to the recent confirmation of government EV subsidies. In contrast, Mercedes-Benz witnessed a notable decline in registrations due to delivery disruptions caused by political tensions in the Middle East.
Regarding specific models, Tesla's Model Y emerged as the top-selling car, boasting 5,934 units sold, followed by BMW 5 and Lexus ES, with 2,259 units and 822 units, respectively.
In other news, Tesla has disclosed its delivery and production figures for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.
During Q1, the company reported the production of over 433,000 vehicles and the delivery of approximately 387,000 vehicles. Notably, Tesla also achieved the highest quarterly deployment of energy storage products, totaling 4,053 MWh (megawatt-hour) in the first quarter.
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