South Korea Full Year 2010: Hyundai Sonata and Avante shine

Hyundai Sonata

* See the Top 50 best-selling local models by clicking on the title! Thanks to Pedro *

After one year disturbed by the generation change, the Hyundai Sonata is back in the lead over the Full Year 2010 in South Korea through its YF new generation with 135,735 sales, up 122% year-on-year, but 2011 may be different again as this was a rather eventful year for the models ranking in South Korea.

Hyundai Avante

The new generation Hyundai Avante MD (aka Elantra) topped the ranking for 5 months in a row from its launch in August onwards, reaching 12.7% in December. It lands directly #3 in the Full Year 2010 ranking with 76,977 sales, below the Kia Morning at 101,570 units (-1%). The previous generation Avante HD is down 46% to #5 and 62,839 sales, making the Avante sales add up to 139,816 vs. 152,053 for the Sonata nameplate.

Daewoo Matiz Creative

There are 3 more newcomers in the Top 10: the new gen Samsung SM5 at #4, the Kia K5 at #6 and the new gen Samsung SM3 at #8. The Daewoo Matiz Creative is up 170% to #7, the Hyundai Tucson ix up 78% to #9, the Kia Sportage R up 61% to #10 and the Kia K7 up 654% to #12.

Kia Soul

In December, the Daewoo Matiz Creative (aka Chevrolet Spark) delivers an excellent 5.3% share and is up to 5th, the Kia Soul is at its best this year in 16th at 2.2% and the new Hyundai Accent is #22 and nearly doubles its market share for its 2nd month of sales at 1.5%.

Previous month: South Korea November 2010: Hyundai Avante #1, new Accent at #26

Previous year: South Korea 2009: Hyundai Avante #1, new Sonata sells 60,000 in 4 months

Full Year Top 50 and December 2010 Top 30 Ranking Tables below.