HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Sales of South Korean-brand passenger cars soared more than 30 percent in the first half of January from a month earlier, partly thanks to weaker shipments of rival Japanese brands, a market report showed Monday.

During the first two weeks of January, South Korean cars sold in China numbered 6,646 units, up 31 percent from the same period a month earlier, according to the report by investment bank JPMorgan.

South Korean carmakers’ market share was estimated at around 13.6 percent, up 2 percentage points from 11.6 percent a month earlier.

The brisk sales of South Korean cars this month were partly attributed to the drop in sales of Japanese cars, the report said.

In the same period of this month, sales of Japanese cars reached 5,905 vehicles, down 10 percent from the corresponding period in December.

Japanese carmakers’ market share fell 3 percentage points to 11.9 percent from 14.9 percent over the cited period.

By the nationality of brands, Japan and Germany were the only two countries that saw their car sales drop in China this month.

Sales of German cars dropped 3 percent to 9,650 vehicles from 9,988 vehicles.

China’s total passenger car sales rose 2.6 percent to 45,134 units in the first two weeks of January, compared with 43,978 units in the first two weeks of December, according to the report.