Thanks to globalization, uneasy public sentiment about foreign cars has waned in recent years.

In particular, young Koreans have driven the change. Foreign automakers say the general sentiment has turned to “favorable” from “negative” as younger generations, born in the 1970s and 1980s, have become mainstream buyers.

They also say the number of Korean female drivers of foreign-made cars has been increasing recently, regardless of age.

“Younger customers have less negative sentiment against imported cars,” a spokeswoman of Audi Korea said. “This means the general perception of foreign cars is changing fast.”

She said young customers in their 30s and 20s have been buying more foreign cars over the past few years.

A BMW Korea executive said that the rise in demand from younger consumers reflects their liberal attitudes and stronger individualism, with the Internet era and increased overseas travel also contributing to a weakening of nationalistic sentiment among youth.

“Young customers just choose what they want of their own free will, without caring much about conventional ideas,” the official said.

He said many imported car models with affordable prices are now also attractive to young drivers, adding that until the 1990s, high-income male customers in their 40s and 50s were the mainstream customers.