From a month earlier, the February tally, however, marked a 2.8-percent drop.

The on-year gain came despite continued difficulties facing Audi and Volkswagen following an emissions scandal that has led to a sales ban on 80 Audi and Volkswagen vehicle models here.

In February, only 360 Audi cars were newly registered, down 63.4 percent from 984 cars a year earlier. No Volkswagen cars were sold last month, a sharp turnaround from 2,196 cars sold here in February 2016.

Advances by other German carmakers, including BMW, helped offset the drop in sales of Audi and Volkswagen vehicles, the data showed.

Mercedes-Benz sold 5,534 cars here last month, marking a 46.1-percent spike that also followed a 59.3-percent on-year surge in the previous month.

BMW saw its sales grow 9.8 percent on-year to 3,202 cars in February, according to KAIDA.

Sales of Lexus cars nearly doubled to 896 cars from 458 cars over the cited period.

Ford saw its sales dwindle 5.3 percent on-year to 709 cars last month.

"Overall sales of imported cars slightly dropped from the previous month in February due to a shortage of supplies experienced by some brands, but the tally still marked a slight increase from the same month last year," KAIDA said in a press release. (Yonhap)