How to buy a car in Korea: From a ‘prestige’ to an exotic luxury
Park Seo Joon, a senior researcher at Seoul National University, says that cars that are “prestigious” are also very expensive.
“They’re all highly-produced models with some sort of ‘high-end’ quality,” he says.
“If you want to get a car that’s a luxurious car, you’ll need to pay a lot of money.”
But Seo says that most luxury cars are relatively affordable, especially for the average consumer.
“The average cost of a car is less than $10,000 [£7,400] in South Korea,” he explains.
“And for many years, that’s what most people had to pay for a car.”
The average car in South Africa Park Seom Joon says that many cars that go for around $100,000 in the country are actually much more expensive than the ones that go on the road.
“In terms of a brand, many luxury cars have names that are not ‘luxury’ but are highly-regarded,” he told Al Jazeera.
“There are also many cars in South African brands that are often more expensive and they’re more known.”
“It’s also very difficult to buy luxury cars in China,” he adds.
“When you’re buying a luxury car, it’s very important that the price is at least in the $20,000 range.”
Seo believes that there are many more luxury cars on the roads in China than in South America, although he admits that he’s never seen one in South Asia.
“I have never seen a car of that quality,” Seo said.
“But there are plenty of luxury cars that people in China and South America are buying for less than a million won [£1,400], so it’s not like they’re just not interested in them.”
Some of the best-selling cars in Asia In South Africa, Seo is also working on a book that examines the market for luxury cars, and the cars that many consumers buy.
The book will be published next year.
Read more about luxury cars: How to buy an expensive car in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania article
