Seoul, Nov 25 (IANS): Sales of foreign cars in South Korea are expected to surpass 250,000 in 2016 on the back of a strong demand for luxury brands, a local industry group said on Wednesday.

This would maintain an almost double-digit growth, Xinhua quoted Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association as saying.

The KAIDA held a press conference in Seoul to mark the 20th anniversary of its establishment, forecasting this year's foreign auto sales would reach 235,000.

For the first 10 months of this year, 196,543 units of foreign luxury brands were sold here, posting a market share of 15.8 percent.

It was a surge from 0.004 percent in 1987, when the government introduced import liberalisation of commercial vehicles with engine displacement between 1,000 and 2,000 cc.

Demand for foreign car brands kept a sharp upward trend, rising from 156,497 units in 2013 to 196,359 in 2014.

German luxury brands have led the growing popularity of imported cars. Sales of German brands, including BMW, Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen, took up for 68.7 percent of the total imported car sales here in October, up from 54.3 percent in 2003.

The portion of gasoline models to the total sales plunged from 97.8 percent in 2003 to 27.7 percent in October this year, indicating a surge in the percentage of imported diesel cars.