South Korea July 2015: Facelifted Hyundai Santa Fe triumphs

The Hyundai Santa Fe is the best-selling vehicle in South Korea in July.

* UPDATED with the Top 30 brands, Top 53 local models and Top 145 foreigners *

The June post has now been updated with imports data

Sales of domestic models in South Korea are up 6% year-on-year in July to 135.218, bringing the year-to-date total to 868.159 units, up 4% on 2014. Adding foreign models brings these totals to 155.925 and 1.007.124 units respectively. Due to sales up just 1% on a year ago, Hyundai’s market share shrinks to 44.3% vs. 45.6% in July 2014, with Kia up 14% to 35.6%. GM Korea is down 7%, whereas Ssangyong is up 36% thanks to the addition of the Tivoli – lodging its 4th consecutive record month at 4.011 units – and Renault Samsung resists with sales up 11%. Thanks to a mid-life facelift unveiled in late June, the Hyundai Santa Fe takes control of the Korean models ranking, something that hadn’t happened since June 2012, with 9.942 sales. It remains #5 year-to-date however below the Hyundai Porter (#2 in July), Hyundai Sonata (#3), Kia Morning (#4) and Hyundai Grandeur (#6).

The Kia K5 leaps up to 8th place this month.

The Kia Carnival is up 3 spots on June to an excellent 5th place with 7.158 sales, even though this figure is down 23% on July 2014 when the new generation had just launched. The Kia K5 is up 6 spots on June and 64% year-on-year, also thanks to its facelift, to land in 8th place with 6.447 units while the Kia Sorento is down 5 ranks to #9 but up 4-fold on July 2014 to 6.331 deliveries. The Hyundai Grand Starex (+40%), Kia K3 (+38%) and Samsung QM3 aka Renault Captur (+245%) also display outstanding gains.

The Peugeot 2008 is now almost among the 10 best-selling foreigners in South Korea.

In the foreign brands ranking, Mercedes is back above BMW to reclaim the title of most popular foreigner at #6 overall for just 40 sales, distancing Volkswagen and Audi. Mini is up 81% to #10, Land Rover up 58% to #13, with Jeep (+31%), Citroen (+68%), Cadillac (+90%), Nissan (+92%), Peugeot (+94%) and Chrysler (+100%) also lodging spectacular year-on-year gains. The Mercedes E-Class leads foreign models with 1.686 sales above the BMW 5 Series (1.427) while the Mercedes S-Class brilliantly rounds up the podium at 1.294 deliveries, up 4-fold on July 2014.

The BMW i8 has landed in South Korea.

Further down, notice the Mini Cooper up 181% to #6, the Peugeot 2008 up a further three spots to #12, the BMW 4 Series up 276% year-on-year to #13, the Nissan Qashqai up 10 ranks on June to #17, the Mercedes CLA up to #18, the Land Rover Discovery Sport making its first official appearance in the South Korean ranking at #19 (now that sales are split with the Discovery), the Jeep Cherokee up 31 spots to #28, Ford Mondeo up 13 to #29 and the BMW 2 Series up 47 to #59 thanks to the Active Tourer. Finally, we welcome the BMW i8 at #105 and the Mercedes AMG GT at #118.

Previous post: South Korea 1st Half 2015: Hyundai Porter takes control

Previous month: South Korea June 2015: Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento shoot up

One year ago: South Korea July 2014: Kia Carnival breaks records in 2nd place

Full July 2015 Top 30 brands, Top 53 local models and Top 145 foreigners below.