Sales of imported commercial vehicles, mostly comprising of heavy trucks, rose by close to 12% to 1,391 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from strong year-earlier sales of 1,245 units, reflecting recovering international trade and a pick-up in investment.

Sales of domestic light commercial vehicles between 2-5 tons gvw in South Korea expanded by 2% to 48,711 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from weak year-earlier sales of 47,752 units, resulting in a 2.6% drop in full-year sales to 194,791 from 200,021 units in 2019.

The South Korean market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw began to stabilise in the fourth quarter of 2020, with sales up slightly at 57,877 units albeit from a weak 57,225 units in the same period of the previous year, based on data from various industry sources.

The market for heavy-duty trucks over 16 tons gvw was the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, with international trade, fixed investment, mining sector output and construction activity all sharply lower.

The market for medium-duty trucks between 5-16 tons gvw continued to dive lower in the fourth quarter of 2020, by over 36% to 13,105 units after declining by more than 14% to 20,593 units in the same period of the previous year.

The Indonesian market for other light commercial vehicles of 2-5 tons gvw declined by almost 16% to 9,531 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from 11,235 units a year earlier, with the decline beginning to slow compared with previous quarters.

The Indonesian pickup truck segment is almost entirely made up of models imported as built-up units from Thailand.

The Indonesian market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw continued to plunge in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020, by more than 32% to 29,334 units from 43,257 units in the same period of the previous year, based on AsiaMotorBusiness.com analysis of industry data.

Sales of medium and large buses and coaches fell by over 34% to 688 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from already depressed year-earlier sales of 1,048 units, resulting in a 57% drop in full-year sales to 1,558 units.

Sales of medium and heavy-duty trucks over 5 tons gvw fell by almost 10% to 7,696 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from an already weak 8,525 units in the same period of the previous year, resulting in a drop of over 16% in full-year sales to 19,292 units from 23,080 units.

Sales of other light commercial vehicles between 2-5 tons gvw more than doubled year-on-year to 5,506 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 after sales fell by over 50% to 2,564 in the same period of 2019, resulting in a slight increase in 2020 sales to 21,727 units.

Sales of pickup trucks increased by over 9% to 7,317 units in the fourth quarter of 2020, after plunging by over 25% to 6,702 units in the same period of the previous year, resulting in a 13.5% decline in full-year sales to 19,697 units from 22,767 sales in 2019.