Tesla Tops South Korea's Imported Car Market for 9th Straight Month; Musk Posts 'Tesla Korea'

Tesla held onto the top spot in South Korea's imported car market for a ninth straight month, prompting Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk to highlight the company's performance there by sharing an image featuring the Korean flag.

According to industry officials on Nov. 6, Musk posted the words "Tesla Korea" on X, formerly Twitter, a day earlier alongside a South Korean flag emoji. The shared image combined Tesla's "T" logo with the center of the Taegeuk symbol.

The post highlighted Tesla's continued first-place ranking in new imported-vehicle registrations in South Korea last month, ahead of Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Data from the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association showed Tesla recorded 9,165 new registrations in October, up 110.7% from a year earlier. That represented 29.5% of all imported passenger-car registrations during the month.

Mercedes-Benz, which ranked second, posted 6,744 registrations, leaving Tesla ahead by 2,421 vehicles. Tesla's monthly registrations, however, fell 25.9% from 12,372 in September, dropping below 10,000 for the first time since February.

Tesla recorded 98,313 registrations in South Korea from January through October. If the current pace continues, it could become the first imported-car brand to surpass 100,000 annual registrations in the country.

It was not the first time Musk had directly referred to Tesla's sales performance in South Korea. In June, after the Model Y overtook Kia's Sorento to become the country's best-selling vehicle for the month across all models, he responded, "Korea is really something." It was the first time an imported vehicle ranked No. 1 in monthly sales in South Korea ahead of a domestic model.

Earlier, in February, Musk also shared a Tesla Korea job posting for semiconductor hiring alongside a South Korean flag emoji.