Which Korean Car Auction Has the Most German Cars? (2026)

Which auction house has the most Mercedes, BMW, Audi, VW and Porsche listings?

Kolon Auto Auction (formerly AJ Autohub). From July 6 to September 27, 2026, Kolon (AJ) had 3,603 of the 6,201 Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche listings that LMN recorded at five Korean auction houses, or 58.1%. It had the most listings in every one of the 12 weeks and for each of the five brands. Hyundai Glovis was second with 1,431 (23.1%).

Data: auction dates July 6 to September 27, 2026 (12 weeks), as of September 29, 2026. This is a dated snapshot, not a live inventory count. Methods are under "How we counted" at the end.

"Sold rate" is the share of listings with a recorded result that sold.

*Many Glovis results were not yet confirmed, so its true sold rate could be anywhere from about 30% to 52%.

Having the most cars does not mean having the newest cars or the best prices. Kolon (AJ)'s German cars were older and had more kilometers than those at Glovis, Lotte and SK. Each auction house also grades cars in its own way, so grades cannot be compared between houses.

Popular in the Balkans: German cars from Korea

Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Volkswagen are popular makes with Balkan dealers who import used cars from Korea. That is what dealers told us when we met them in Kosovo, Albania and Bulgaria. Kosovo dealers look for German diesels under 10 years old. Bulgarian dealers ask for Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. In Albania, 14 of the 32 cars dealers discussed with us were Mercedes-Benz.

What counts as a German car in this data

We counted five brands: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche.

One car can appear more than once. If a car does not sell, it can come back at a later auction, and each time counts as one listing. So the 6,201 listings are 3,504 different cars.

Kolon (AJ) vs Glovis vs K Car vs Lotte vs SK: how their German cars differ

The five houses offer different German cars. Kolon (AJ) has the most listings but older, higher-mileage cars (median 2016, 152,000 km). Hyundai Glovis is second, with newer cars (2017, 116,000 km). K Car Auction sold the highest share of its listings. Lotte Auto Auction and SK Auction are small but have the newest cars (median 2022).

Kolon (AJ): the most listings. Older, higher-mileage cars than Glovis, Lotte and SK. Top models: E-Class (514), 5 Series (397), A6 (295), 3 Series (206). (Kolon (AJ) deep dive (all brands, March 2026))

Hyundai Glovis: newer cars. Top models: E-Class (208), S-Class (124), 5 Series (120). Glovis lists more cars overall, but only about 4% are German, against about 15% at Kolon (AJ). (Glovis deep dive (all brands, March 2026))

K Car Auction: the highest sold rate. 63.5% of its German listings sold, but not for cars from 2021 on. (K Car deep dive (all brands, March 2026))

Lotte and SK: the newest cars. Median model year 2022, mostly Mercedes-Benz (Lotte 139 of 211; SK 87 of 175). A good place to look for a newer, lower-mileage Mercedes. (Deep dives, all brands, March 2026: Lotte, SK)

Which Mercedes, BMW, Audi and VW models are most common at Korean auctions?

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class was the most-listed German model at five Korean auctions, with 972 listings, about one in six German listings (15.7%). Next came the BMW 5 Series (636), Audi A6 (422), Mercedes S-Class (385) and VW Tiguan (299). Among the top eight, the VW Golf sold most often (64.0%).

Median model year covers all listings in each group, not only the cars that sold.

Among these eight models the VW Golf sold most often (64.0%), while the BMW 3 Series (39.4%) and Mercedes S-Class (40.4%) sold least often. At brand level, Volkswagen has the highest sold rate of the five.

Are German cars at Korean auctions mostly diesel?

Yes. Of 6,201 German listings, 3,555 were diesel and 2,303 gasoline. Hybrids and plug-in hybrids together account for 284, fully electric only 56, and LPG dual-fuel 3. Transmissions are automatic in effectively every car (6,198 of 6,201).

Diesel is mostly an older-car story. 82% of 2015–2016 listings were diesel, against 12% of listings from 2023 and newer, where gasoline and hybrids take over.

Most German-brand listings at these auctions are diesel, so check your import market's diesel and emissions rules before you shortlist.

How to check a German car at a Korean auction before you bid

1. Start with Kolon (AJ) and your target brand and model. That is where most German listings are.
2. Compare the same model at Glovis and K Car before deciding. Glovis cars are newer on average. K Car sold the highest share of its German listings, though not for cars from 2021 on.
3. Check Lotte and SK for newer, lower-mileage Mercedes specifically.
4. Read each grade only within its own house, and treat it as that house's opinion, not a shared standard.
5. Request a secondary inspection before you secure the car. LMN checks the car in person, as a paid service, and sends one shareable report within 48 hours, usually the next day: photos, three videos and plain-English notes. See how a secondary inspection works.

How we counted

Source. LMN's data on auction listings from five Korean auction houses, for auction dates July 6 to September 27, 2026, which is 12 full Monday-to-Sunday weeks. Figures were computed from LMN's auction data as of September 29, 2026, and re-checked on September 30, when no German listing in the window had changed. The final week contained only three auction days (September 21 to 23).

Brands. We selected Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche by brand name, not by where the car was built. MINI (295 listings) and Smart (2) are not counted; including them would not change the ranking.

Counting rules. One listing per auction house listing per auction date, using the latest data for each. A lot number can be reused for a different car, so we count the house's listing, not the lot number alone. To count different cars we used each car's 17-character VIN (vehicle identification number); we checked that each VIN had the correct format but did not verify it with the manufacturer. Four listings without a valid VIN are left out of the car count. We do not add the per-house car counts together, because 31 cars appeared at more than one house.

Verification. Before publishing, a second analyst re-counted every listing, brand, weekly, sold-rate and model figure from the source data, and the figures that did not match were corrected.

Certain, inferred, and unknown

Here is what we counted directly, what we are inferring, and what we could not find out.

Certain, counted directly:

• All listing counts, brand counts, weekly counts, and per-house and per-model sold rates (except Glovis's, see above).
• Kolon (AJ) first in all 12 weeks, in all five brands, and in all 60 brand-week combinations. Its narrowest weekly lead was about 2 to 1.
• Kolon (AJ) stays first whether you count listings, different cars, or only cars that sold.
• 6,201 German listings; 3,504 different cars.

Inference, reasoning beyond the count:

• That Kolon (AJ) is the best starting point for German-brand sourcing. Twelve weeks of consistent leadership is a strong signal, but past volume does not tell you what is for sale today.
• Why K Car's sold rate is higher. More competing bidders and lower reserve prices would produce the same pattern, and we did not separate the two.

Unknown, we could not determine:

• Why our listing capture missed Lotte in the week of August 10. We recorded no Lotte listings of any brand that week, although Lotte did hold an auction, so we did not treat it as a real inventory drop.
• How these counts compare to each operator's own official totals. This describes what LMN observed at five auction houses, not a national census.
• Whether 21 pairs of listings (42 listings) that share a VIN and auction date (18 pairs at Glovis, 3 at Kolon (AJ)) are repeat postings or duplicate entries. Each counts as two listings and as one car in the car count; the ranking is unaffected either way.
• What share of Glovis's unconfirmed wins and pending negotiations ended in a completed sale.

Scope and limitations. This article reports what LMN observed at five Korean auction houses over one dated 12-week window. Figures are auction listings and recorded auction results, not a guarantee of current availability, condition, or what any car will cost you delivered. Nothing here is a certification or warranty of any vehicle.

Data window: July 6 to September 27, 2026. This is a dated snapshot. Check live auction listings for current stock, or ask us what is available now.