Sales of imported cars soar 14.8% in Feb.

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea increased in February from a year earlier, while the downward trend in sales of local cars continued.

Sales of foreign brand cars soared 14.8 percent last month from the same period of 2012, an auto importers' association said on March 7.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, the number of imported vehicles sold in the country in February totaled 10,556 units, compared with 9,196 cars sold a year earlier.

BMW topped the sales list with 2,583 units sold, followed by Volkswagen (1,552 units), Mercedes Benz (1,404 units), Audi (1,308 units), Toyota (495 units) and Ford (481 units).

By engine capacity, below 2,000cc took the lion's share of 53.2 percent, followed by 2,000-3,000cc with 33.7 percent and 3,000-4,000cc with 10.6 percent.

By Josephine Liu Yan Yee

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com