Earnings of overseas carmakers in South Korea surged nearly 2.5-fold in 2014 on the back of the rising popularity of foreign-made automobiles here, data showed on Monday, with a large chunk of the profits paid out back home as dividends.
The 10 largest foreign carmakers by sales posted a combined net profit of 197.7 billion won ($182.55 million) in South Korea last year, up 147.8 percent from the 79.8 billion won registered in 2013, according to the data compiled by market researcher Chaebul.com.
Total sales also jumped 36.7 percent to reach 8.63 trillion won from 6.31 trillion won over the cited period, according to the data.
Audi Volkswagen Korea, the top overseas brand by sales last year, saw its net profit soar 30.1 percent to 40.7 billion won over the cited period, the data showed.
The figures for No. 2 BMW Korea climbed 22.4 percent to 20.1 billion won in the same period, while that for Mercedes-Benz Korea skyrocketed 180.6 percent to 96.9 billion won, according to the data.
The rise in profits came as foreign-made brands have become more popular among South Korean consumers.
Overseas carmakers took up a combined 13.92 percent share of the country’s auto market last year, up from the 12.1 percent tallied the year before, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association.
Dividends paid out by the carmakers also jumped in tandem with the earnings rise, with a total of around 80 billion won, or 40 percent of the total net profit, delivered to their shareholders last year, according to Chaebul.com.
Their local units here are almost wholly owned by their parent firms.
Audi Volkswagen Korea handed out 48.4 billion won in dividends last year, nearly three times the amount paid out in 2013, the data showed.
Jaguar Land Rover Korea Co. and Porsche Korea also paid out a majority of their earnings as dividends, delivering 6.1 billion won and 10.9 billion won, or more than 80 percent of their respective net profits, to shareholders last year, according to the data. (Yonhap)
