SEOUL, May 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's imported car sales logged a double-digit growth due to strong demand for electric vehicles and German luxury models, industry data showed Thursday.

The number of imported vehicles sold here surged 58.1 percent from a year earlier to 33,993 in April, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association.

For the first four months of 2026, 116,113 imported cars were sold, up 41.3 percent compared with the same period of last year.

U.S. carmaker Tesla ranked first in terms of automotive sales here among foreign companies by selling 13,190 units last month.

German automaker BMW came next with the sale of 6,658 units, followed by German carmaker Mercedes-Benz with 4,796 units, BYD with 2,023 units, Volvo with 1,105 units and Lexus with 1,079 units.

The number of European models sold here was 16,385 last month, taking up 48.2 percent of the total. U.S., Japanese and Chinese brands recorded market shares of 40.0 percent, 6.0 percent and 5.8 percent each. ■