An Alpine A110 R Ultime car is displayed during the media day at the 2024 Paris Auto Show in Paris, France, Oct. 14. Reuters-Yonhap Alpine's A110 sports coupe available for sale by end of 2024 By Lee Min-hyung A group of global carmakers — Renault, Volkswagen, Stellantis and Geely — are considering bringing their auto brands to Korea amid the growing purchasing power of local customers and the increase in the market share of imported vehicles here, according to data and industry officials, Sunday.
Last month, Alpine CEO Philippe Krief made public its plan to tap into the Korean market in 2026. The sports car brand is under the umbrella of Renault Group. The company plans to sell 20 limited A110 flagship sports coupes here by the end of this year ahead of its full-fledged penetration here.
Renault Korea is rapidly bouncing back in the Korean market with its new Grand Koleos premium SUV. Sales for the vehicle surged by 340 percent in October from a year earlier. Volkswagen Group is also rumored to be introducing its affordable brand, Skoda, to Korea, in a bid to make up for Volkswagen Korea’s falling vehicle sales.
The local subsidiary of the German automaker sold some 6,000 vehicles between January and September, and the numbers for its 2024 annual auto sales here are widely forecast to fall below 10,000 for the first time in five years. This is not the first time that the carmaker has considered launching the Skoda brand here. In 2015, the brand prepared for its debut h.