skip to Main Content

South Korea June 2018: Hyundai Santa Fe cements leadership

The Hyundai Santa Fe enjoys a 4th consecutive month in pole position.

This post has been updated with the Top 85 best-selling foreign models.

The South Korea new car market sinks 5% year-on-year in June to 155.138 registrations, just as foreign carmakers drop 2% to 23.311 units, this time failing to offset local carmakers’ 6% decline at 131.827. This negative result, the second year-on-year drop in 2018, pulls the YTD volume gain to a meagre +1% to 902.647 deliveries. Strikingly, the Top 6 best-selling brands all post year-on-year falls: market leader Hyundai skids down 10% to 35.3% share, Kia is down 2% to 29.7%, Ssangyong down 8% to 6.2%, GM Korea down 17% to 6.1%, Renault Samsung down 21% to 4.6% and even the best-selling foreign carmaker, Mercedes, is hit at -20% to 4% share.

Record volume for the Chevrolet Bolt. Picture Esquire Korea.

Genesis soars 4-fold to 3.1% mainly due to the rebranding of its most popular model, the G80, from Hyundai to Genesis during the past year. Below, BMW (-24%) is also in freefall but remains well above all other foreign manufacturers, selling more than double its immediate followers Volkswagen, already down 16% on May for its return in market after a year-long stop sale order, Land Rover (+52%) and Toyota (+47%). Audi is also weak at just 0.8% share, while Peugeot (+42%) and Porsche (+40%) shine but remain at micro levels, both holding a tiny 0.3% share. Honda (-70%), Infiniti (-42%), Cadillac (-30%), Jaguar (-28%), Nissan (-23%), Bentley (-21%) and Citroen (-20%) all implode.

The Chevrolet Equinox has landed in South Korea.

Over in the local models ranking, the Hyundai Santa Fe (+104%) posts a 4th consecutive month as the best-selling nameplate at home, a feat it hadn’t managed since 2004. This is still however far from enough to snap the YTD pole position, a ranking held by the Hyundai Grandeur (-29%) with a 6.715 unit advantage. The Hyundai Porter (-16%) remains faithful to the 3rd spot it holds YTD despite a steep drop, and is followed by the Kia Carnival (+7%) and Sorento (+2%) continuing their outstanding career given their price tag. The Hyundai Grand Starex (+21%) takes advantage of its facelift, as does the Kia K3 (+56%) which however drops out of the Top 10. The Ssangyong Korando Sports (+108%) is the brand’s best-seller for the 2nd month in a row and since November 2014, the Chevrolet Volt/Bolt tandem hits its largest ever monthly volume at 1.648 and the Chevrolet Equinox lands at a shy 43rd place.

The VW Tiguan remains the #3 foreigner in South Korea in June.

Previous month: South Korea May 2018: Hyundai Santa Fe 3peats, foreign brands up 23%

One year ago: South Korea June 2017: Hyundai Grandeur leads, Kia Stinger in Top 30

Full June 2018 Top 30 brands and Top 60 models, Full May 2018 Top 85 foreigners below.

This content is for Platinum members only.
Log In Register
Back To Top