Tesla Korea said on September 3 that the Model Y was the best-selling vehicle in South Korea’s entire car market in August, repeating July’s first-place finish, while Tesla itself stayed the country’s top import brand for a seventh straight month.
The official account credited the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) and the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), and posted a dusk Model Y graphic with a giant No.1 over the highway. Yonhap News Agency said KAIDA counted 10,400 Tesla registrations in August out of 29,817 imported passenger cars, up 9.2 percent from a year earlier, with BMW second at 6,180 and Mercedes-Benz at 3,959. The Herald Business put combined Model Y volume at 9,638, ahead of Kia’s Sorento at 6,397, the gap Tesla Korea is hanging the overall No. 1 on.
Yonhap listed the Model Y Premium alone at 7,490, the best-selling import model, which is the trim split rather than a contradiction of the combined nameplate total. Tesla has led monthly import-brand sales every month since February. The company thanked owners for the two-month overall streak and the seven-month import run, and did not put a September forecast on either chart.
That is two months in a row the Model Y has beaten every car sold in Korea, after it first did it in May, domestic included, not just the import board Tesla already owned. Tesla Korea did not say the year-to-date crown is locked.
