The boom in the nation’s imported car market shows no sign of abating, with monthly sales hitting another record in April.

The Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association said Tuesday that import car sales surged 24.9 percent to 13,320 units last month.

In the first quarter, a combined 48,284 vehicles were sold, up 20.9 percent from 39,953 a year ago, the business lobby said in its monthly report.

In April, BMW topped the list with sales of 2,719 vehicles, followed by Mercedes-Benz with 2,324, Volkswagen with 2,206, Audi with 1,723 and Toyota with 576.

Compact cars with an engine capacity of less than 2,000 cc made up 7,069 vehicles, about 53.1 percent of the total. Diesel models also continued to gain popularity to account for 59.9 percent.

The best-selling models included the BMW 502d with 792 units sales, Mercedes-Benz’s E300 with 616 and its E220 CDI with 527.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)