Rolls-Royce car registration number South Korea 1995-2023
In 2023, 276 Rolls-Royce's luxury cars were registered in South Korea. Rolls-Royces are relatively rare in Korea, and 2018 was the first time more than a hundred vehicles were registered in Korea in a year.
The Rolls-Royce was first brought to Korea in 1995, when two cars were sold, and then another two in 1997. After that, there was a six-year gap in which no Rolls-Royces were sold at all in Korea. The 1997 Asian financial crisis might have played a role in Rolls-Royce's withdrawal from the Korean market. Certainly, all imported car brands showed a sudden drop in sales in the late 1990s. Rolls-Royces were reintroduced after BMW bought the company and the new-generation Rolls-Royce Phantom was launched.
As of 2018, Rolls-Royce is attempting to increase its sales in the lucrative Korean market. Relative to the size of the population, the Korean market is particularly interested in purchasing expensive luxury cars, and is viewed as a potential high-growth market for such automobiles. As "regular" imported cars such as Mercedes-Benzes or BMWs become more common on the streets, Koreans who desire to differentiate themselves from "ordinary" people are more and more transitioning to sports cars, supercars, or luxury cars such as Rolls-Royces or Bentleys.