Foreign vehicle brands in South Korea saw a steady rise in their sales last month from a year earlier, flashing a green light for their goal of selling over 100,000 cars in the local market for the first time, a trade association said Friday.

   A total of 6,770 imported vehicles were sold here in February, up 5.2 percent from the same month last year, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA).

   The figure, however, marks a 21.8 percent drop from January when 8,659 foreign vehicles were sold.

   The association said the on-month drop in vehicle sales was due to less working days and more holidays last month. The Lunar New Year holiday, one of the nation's biggest holidays, fell on Feb. 2-4.  

   In the first two months of the year, sales of foreign vehicles in the country gained 20.4 percent from a year earlier to 15,429 units, according to the association.

   There are 23 foreign automakers with official dealers in South Korea, and they enjoyed record sales in 2010. Their combined sales here jumped 48.5 percent on-year to 90,562 units last year.

   BMW was the top-selling brand in South Korea with 1,287 vehicles sold in February. Mercedes-Benz was second with 1,229 units sold, followed by Volkswagen with 824 units and Audi with 679 units, the association said.

 (Yonhap News)