South Korea September 2022: Ssangyong Torres up to #4, Hyundai Ioniq 6 in Top 20, sales up 22.6%

Excellent start for the Hyundai Ioniq 6 at home.

137,584 new light vehicles hit South Korean roads in September, the first year-on-year increase in 7 months at +22.6%. This includes 113,656 domestic vehicles (+23.8%) and 23,928 foreigners (+17.3%). Year-to-date, sales remain down at -6.2% to 1,209,927 including 1,009,767 local cars (-6.1%) and 200,210 foreigners (-6.7%). This month Hyundai (+30.5%) reclaims the top spot off its sister brand Kia (+11.8%) both in September and year-to-date. Genesis (+26.4%) stays in third place at 7% share vs. 8% so far this year. Ssangyong (+98.9%) storms into 4th place, reaching its highest monthly volume since December 2020. For its part BMW (+49.8%) overtakes Mercedes (-12.2%) in the YTD charts to rank #4 overall. Audi (+57.6%) and Volkswagen (+79.9%) close the Top 10 in sensational fashion.

In the domestic models ranking, the Hyundai Porter (+73%) sails off into the distance with a little more than 8,500 sales, 59% more than any other nameplate. The Kia Sorento (+39.7%) is now #2 year-to-date while the Kia Bongo (+53%) completes an outperforming podium at #3. The recently launched Ssangyong Torres is up five spots on August to a record 4th place. This the highest ranking reached by a Ssangyong model since we started following this country monthly in 2013, the previous best being the Tivoli at #7 in October 2016. The number of pre-orders for the Torres is 60,000 units. The Hyundai Grandeur (+44.4%) is also in great shape, and should continue to be as pre-orders for the new model reach 70,000 units. The Hyundai Avante (#7) and Casper (#9) return inside the Top 10. The biggest event of the month is arguably the gearing up of the Hyundai Ioniq 6 at #17 at over 2,600 units, already outselling the Ioniq 5. 50,000 pre-orders are waiting to be fulfilled.

Over in the foreign models aisle, the Tesla Model Y (+19.8%) remains in the lead while the BMW 5 Series (+121.9%) overtakes the traditional leader, the Mercedes E-Class (-27.5%) to rank #2 overall. The Tesla Model 3 (+99.8%) follows in 4th place ahead of the Mercedes GLE (+47%) and BMW X4 (+26.8%). The Mercedes S-Class (+55.8%) also posts a solid uptick as we welcome the VW ID.4 directly at #8 and the Audi Q4 e-Tron at #10.

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

One year ago: South Korea September 2021: Sales down -30%, Hyundai Avante best-seller, Hyundai Casper lands

Full September 2022 Top 30 all brands, Top 40 domestic models and Top 50 foreign models below.