South Korea 1997: Daewoo outsells Kia for the first time in market down -7.5%

The Daewoo Leganza lands at #3 in South Korea in 1997.

1997 marks the largest decline so far this decade at -7.3% to 1.468.699 units. Hyundai (-10.8%) falls faster than te market and sees its share thaw to 46.9% but the big event this year is Daewoo (+23.7%) surging past Kia (-22.8%) for the first time since we started tracking South Korea in 1990. Ssangyong (+7.5%) also swims upstream to 3.7% share while Ford (+57.5%) reclaims the top foreigner spot above BMW (+10.7%), Chrysler (-23.6%), Mercedes (-2.4%) and Volvo (+17.1%), all selling over 1.000 units.

The Hyundai Sonata (-19.1%) is #1 for the 5th straight year despite a steep fall, even widening the gap with the Hyundai Avante (-31.9%). Two new Daewoos spectacularly land just below: the Leganza at #3 with just under 94.000 sales and the Nubira at #4 with just over 93.000 units. The Hyundai Porter (-8.1%) is up 3 spots to close the Top 5 and apart from the Daewoo Lanos (+340.2%) up to #10, the rest of the Top 10 is down by double-digits. The Hyundai Starex (#12) and Atoz (#14) also shine as 1997 launches.

Full Year 1997 Top 20 All-brands and Top 70 models vs. Full Year 1996 figures below.