South Korea May 2015: Hyundai Sonata reclaims pole position

Hyundai Sonata

* Now updated with the Top 53 local models, Top 140 foreigners & Top 40 All-brands *

The April post has now been updated with all foreign models data.

Sales of new local models in South Korea edge past their level of a year ago in May at +0.2% to 121.497 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 597.470 units, up 2% on 2014. Hyundai at 45.3% of the market and Kia at 32.9% continue to hold the lion share of domestic sales, with General Motors Korea (including both Chevrolet and Daewoo) at a round 10%, Ssangyong at 6.4% and Renault Samsung at 5.4%. Leader in 2014, the Hyundai Sonata reclaims the title of best-selling nameplate at home in May for only the 2nd time in the past 10 months. Its 9.495 sales and 7.8% share are however not enough yet to dislodge the Hyundai Porter from the 2015 top spot, adding up to 40.710 deliveries vs. 41.683 for the LCV.

Hyundai Tucson

In third place, the Hyundai Tuscon is airlifted by the new generation: up 95% on the old model a year ago to 7.270 sales and 6% share and now #9 year-to-date vs. #13 over the Full Year 2014. The Kia Morning (-22%) is the only non-Hyundai in the Top 6 at #4, with the Avante and Grandeur following. The Kia Sorento and Carnival continue to benefit fully from their relaunch at +258% and +336% respectively on May 2014. Now in its 5th month in market, the Ssangyong Tivoli still hasn’t run out off steam, posting its best monthly volume to-date at 3.437 units in 14th place. The same cannot be said for the Hyundai Aslan launched last October but down to #35 with a paltry 504 sales. Finally, a slight facelift and better equipment for 2015 are enough to push the lagging Chevrolet Captiva up 90% year-on-year to #24.

Chevrolet Captiva sales are up 90% year-on-year in May.

Among foreign manufacturers, BMW takes the lead thanks to sales up 45% year-on-year followed by Mercedes (+42%), Volkswagen (-6%), Audi (-26%) and Ford (+82%). Notice also Nissan up 70%, Peugeot up 108%, Jeep up 51%, Porsche up 56% and Infiniti up 3-fold on May 2014. The BMW 5 Series becomes the best-selling foreign nameplate in the country thanks to 1.590 sales above the BMW 3 Series at 1.346 and the Mercedes E-Class at 1.342. The Mercedes S-Class is solid at #4, the Audi A6 is back up 8 spots on April to #6 and the VW CC does the same to land at #8

Previous post: South Korea First Quarter 2015: Imports hit record levels

Previous month: South Korea April 2015: New Hyundai Tucson shoots up to #2

One year ago: South Korea May 2014: Hyundai Sonata now #1 year-to-date

Full May 2015 Top 53 local models, Top 140 foreign models and Top 40 All-brands below.