According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL = Yonhap News) Imported car sales in South Korea rose 20.3 percent on-year as foreign brands continue to make inroads into the country's market, a trade association said Thursday.

A total of 14,849 foreign-made cars were sold in the one-month period, compared with 12,345 units a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) said.

The gains come after annual foreign car sales topped the 150,000 mark for the first time in 2013.

"Aggressive marketing and actions taken by some brands to secure enough vehicles ahead of time contributed to the better monthly numbers," a KAIDA official said.

Others in the industry said foreign cars, especially German-made ones, were doing well because they provided consumers with the option to buy fuel-efficient diesel-engine vehicles.

Five local carmakers, such as Hyundai Motor Co., also logged a 1.9 percent on-year increase in domestic sales to 106,343 units.

Among imported cars brands, German luxury brands BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen ranked in the top three in terms of cars sold, followed by Audi and Ford. Japanese carmakers such as Toyota and Nissan came in sixth and seventh, respectively, KAIDA said.

BMW sold 3,408 vehicles overall, with sales of Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen reaching 2,773 and 2,700. Audi sold 2,137 cars with numbers for Ford reaching 757 units.

European cars accounted for 82.8 percent of total sales last month, followed by 9.8 percent by Japanese cars and 7.5 percent by U.S. brands.

By engine size, 54.2 percent of all foreign cars bought by local consumers had engines smaller than 2,000 cubic centimeters (cc), with those ranging from 2,000cc to 3,000cc making up 32.2 percent of the total.

The association added that the best-selling foreign car last month was the BMW 520d with sales hitting 809 units, followed by Volkswagen's Tiguan 2.0 TDI BlueMotion sport utility vehicle that sold 650 vehicles.