Imported car sales in South Korea hit an all-time monthly high in January on growing demand for European and Japanese vehicles here, industry data showed Thursday.
  

According to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, a total of 19,930 foreign-branded vehicles were registered last month, up from 14,849 units tallied a year earlier. The figure was also up 16.4 percent from the previous month.
  

This marked the largest monthly sales since last July when 18,112 foreign vehicles were registered.
  

The spike was driven by growing demand for European brands, such as Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
  

The data showed that European cars accounted for 81.7 percent of the sales, slightly down from the previous year's 82.7 percent. Japanese cars came next with a market share of 11.1 percent, up from the previous year's 9.8 percent.
  

By brand, Mercedes-Benz ranked first by selling 4,367 vehicles in January, followed by Audi with 3,550 units. BMW slipped to third with sales of 3,008 cars last month.
  

Audi's A6 35 TDI sold 807 units last month, becoming the best-selling foreign car model in Korea. Volkswagen's Passat 2.0 TDI ranked second by selling 791 units, the data showed. (Yonhap)