South Korea August 2022: Ssangyong Torres inside Top 10, Hyundai Ioniq 6 lands, registrations up 0.5%

The Torres is the best performing Ssangyong in 3.5 years.

The South Korea new light vehicle market edges up 0.5% in August to 128,941. This is only due to strong imports up 7.8% to 23,850 while local manufacturers are down -1.1% to 105,091. The year-to-date total now stands at 1,072,393 (-9%) including 896,111 domestic carmakers (-8.9%) and 176,282 foreigners (-9.3%). Kia (+1%) is the most popular brand at home for the 5th time this year, confirming  its newfound YTD lead. Hyundai (-7.3%) is down significantly at #2 with 30.7% share vs. 32.9% so far this year. Genesis (+15.8%) scores a strong year-on-year result but falls below the 10,000 monthly unit mark for the first time since September 2021. BMW (+40.1%) and Ssangyong (+42.4%) round out the Top 5 in spectacular fashion but Mercedes (-11.8%), Renault Korea (-14.2%) and GM Korea (-24.3%) struggle. Audi (+72.3%) scores the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 10 at #9. Note Polestar (#16) already outselling Volvo (-54.4%).

The Hyundai Ioniq 6 has landed in the South Korean charts.

Over in the models ranking, the Hyundai Porter (+5%) confirms it is the favourite of South Korean crowds and cements its YTD lead. It is followed by three models in outstanding shape: the Kia Sorento (+42.8%), Bongo (+49.3%) and Hyundai Grandeur (+25%). The Kia K8 (+34.3%) and Seltos (+32.5%) also impress in the remainder of the Top 10 but the big news is the Ssangyong Torres up 12 spots on July to break into its home Top 10 for the first time at #9. It is the first Ssangyong to rank inside the Top 10 since the Rexton Sports in January 2019 (#9). Reversely the Kia Sportage (-41.1%), Carnival (-19.2%) and Hyundai Sonata (-7.6%) suffer. Below, the new Hyundai Casper slips outside the Top 10 at #11 while the Kia Ray (+56.3%), Genesis G90 (+1093.1%), Kia Niro (+22%), Genesis GV80 (+21.3%) and Kia Morning (+20.8%) stand out. Notice the arrival of the Hyundai Ioniq 6 at #54.

In the foreign models aisle, the Tesla Model Y (+37.4%) takes the lead after selling no units in July and climbs up to #9 year-to-date vs. #6 over the Full Year 2021. The YTD leader, the Mercedes E Class (-39.1%) follows with a harsh year-on-year fall, distancing the BMW 5 Series (+62.8%), Mercedes S-Class (+86.1%), Audi A6 (+286.2%) and Tesla Model 3 (+16.3%) all vastly outpacing the market. Below, the BMW 6 Series (+207.7%), Mercedes GLC (+150.9%) and to a lesser extent the BMW X5 (+11.1%) also make waves. The best-selling newcomer is the Polestar 2 at #11 just above the BMW i4 at #12.

Previous month: South Korea July 2022: Kia now #1 year-to-date, strong start for Ssangyong Torres

One year ago: South Korea August 2021: Kia Sportage up to #2, Kia EV6 lands in market down -2.7%

Full August 2022 Top 30 all brands, Top 60 all local models and Top 50 foreigners below.