Foreign auto sales in South Korea Slip 3.5% in June

Sales of foreign cars in South Korea shed 3.5% on-year in June, weighed down by a slump of German automaker Volkswagen Group in the wake of a widening probe into its emissions scandal here, industry data showed Wednesday. 
A total of 23,435 units of imported cars were registered last month, down from 24,275 tallied in the previous year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association. 
June sales, however, jumped 20.4% from a month earlier, the data showed. 
Sales of foreign cars have kept sliding since hitting a monthly high of 24,366 units in December, with the cumulative sales in the first half of this year decreasing 2.6% on-year to 116,749 units, the association said. 
In August, the government slashed excise taxes by 30% on cars to 3.5% till December and then extended the deduction until June to boost domestic consumption. 
German brands continued to dominate the domestic market, state news agency (Yonhap) reported. 
BMW topped the pack by selling 4,820 cars in June, followed by Mercedes-Benz with 4,535, Audi with 2,812 and Volkswagen with 1,834. The Japanese car brands Lexus and Toyota came next with 1,276 and 1,165, respectively. 
Among German brands, Volkswagen and Audi grappled with falling demand this year as South Korean prosecutors widened their investigation into the German automotive group over allegations of cheating emissions tests. 
Volkswagen's sales tumbled 33.1% to 12,463 cars in the January-June period, and Audi's sales also fell 10.3% to 13,058 over the period.