Imported car sales in South Korea posted a double-digit fall in the first month of this year for the weak seasonality, industry data showed Friday.

The number of imported vehicles sold here was 18,198 in January, down 13.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).

It was attributed to the weak seasonality and the lack of supply in some of foreign luxury brands.

German carmaker Mercedes Benz ranked first in terms of vehicle sales, with 5,796 units sold here in January. It was down 22.8 percent compared with the same month of last year.

BMW, another German automaker, came in the second place by selling 2,726 vehicles last month, but it was down 49.6 percent from a year ago.

Lexus came next with 1,533 vehicles sold here in January, followed by Japanese automaker Toyota with 1,047 units sold and U.S. carmaker Ford with a sale of 861 vehicles.

The best-selling model in January was Mercedes Benz' E 300, of which sale amounted to 1,531 units.

European cars accounted for 69.4 percent of the total imported vehicle sale in January, followed by Japanese brands with a market share of 20.6 percent and U.S. models with a share of 9.9 percent.