Import car sales in the local market continued their boom last month although Korean automakers and three foreign companies that operate production factories in Korea are still suffering sluggish vehicle sales.

According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, the nation’s import car sales exceeded 10,000 units for the fifth consecutive month.

“Sales of import cars came to 10,768 units in July, up 21.5 percent from a year before,” a KAMA spokesman said on Friday. “After posting 9,196 units in February, import brands sold more than 10,000 units per month from March.”

The monthly average reached 10,429 units so far this year. Last year, the import automobile brands’ monthly sales stood at 8,753 units on average.

For the first seven months of 2012, they sold 73,007 units, reporting a 20.6 percent growth over the same period last year when they posted 60,523 units.

BMW topped the list last month with sales of 2,405 units. The German company grabbed 22.3 percent of the nation’s import automotive market.

Mercedes-Benz ranked second with sales of 1,804 units and a market share of 16.7 percent, followed by Audi with 1,238 units and 11.5 percent, and Volkswagen with 1,202 units and 11.1 percent.

In contrast to the brisk sales of German players, Lexus, the premium brand of Toyota Motor, saw its sales stay at 291 units, recording a mere 2.7 percent share of the market.

The combined share of German companies came to 63.5 percent, followed Japanese players including Honda Motor and Nissan with 16.8 percent, and U.S. players such as General Motors and Ford Motor with 8.4 percent.

The monthly best-selling model was the Mercedes-Benz E330 with sales of 515 units, followed by the Camry of Toyota Motor with 439 units, the BMW 528 with 393 units, and the BMW 320d with 321 units.

KAIDA executives predicted that sales of import vehicles will reach 140,000 units by 2014, from the current level of 100,000 units per annum.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)