South Korea Full Year 2022: Kia threatens Hyundai for #1, Hyundai Porter and Kia Sorento on top
The Kia Sorento is up to #2 at home in 2022.
Discover over 30 years of South Korean Historical Data here.
1,671,911 new light vehicles hit South Korean roads in 2022, a -2.4% year-on-year decline. Local manufacturers drop -3.4% to 1,388,476 and 83% share vs. 83.9% a year ago while foreign carmakers step up 2.6% to 283,435 and 17% share vs. 16.1% in 2021. Hyundai (-6.3%) keeps the brands top spot but drops from 34.5% to 33.1% share of its home market. Kia (+1.1%) was a threatening presence all year, ranking #1 no less than 6 times and managing to snap the year-to-date top spot in March, April, July and August. Genesis (-2.7%) evolves roughly like the market and sees its share stabilise just above 8%. The premium brand broke its monthly volume record in December at 15,205. Mercedes (+6.3%) and BMW (+19.6%) both defy the market downturn with solid gains and stay at #4 and #5 respectively. Ssangyong (+21.8%) scores the largest gain among mass manufacturers and advances to #6. Volkswagen (+9.9%) is back inside the Top 10 at #10, knocking Volvo out. Newcomer Polestar lands at #21.
The Hyundai Porter is the best-selling vehicle in South Korea for the 2nd year running.
In the local models charts, the Hyundai Porter (+0.2%) easily repeats at #1 and scores its third ever annual win (add 2016). It sees the gap with the #2 go from 3,134 units in 2021 to a whopping 23,500 this year. The 2nd best-seller is the Kia Sorento (-1.5%) up three spots on last year. The Hyundai Grandeur, #1 from 2017 to 2020, freefalls -24.8% to #3 as it changes over to a new generation. It was back up to #2 in December as the new model arrived into dealerships. The Kia Bongo (+8.5%) is very solid and up three ranks to #4, leapfrogging past the Kia Carnival (-19.4%) and Hyundai Avante (-17.3%). The Kia Sportage (+39.3%) takes advantage of its new generation to lift 9 spots to #7 ahead of the Hyundai Palisade (-5%), Sonata (-23.5%) and Casper (+344.2%), the latter enjoying its first full year in market inside the Top 10. The Ssangyong Torres (#28) and Hyundai Ioniq 6 (#33) are the best-selling 2022 launches, respectively peaking at #4 in September and #11 in October and November.
The Mercedes S-Class is up to #3 in the foreigner ranking.
Over in the foreign models aisle, the Mercedes E-Class (+8.5%) and BMW 5 Series (+21.3%) hold onto the top two spots like in 2021 and both show very healthy gains. The Mercedes S-Class (+17.7%) is also in great shape and overtakes the Audi A6 (-33%) to land on the third step of the podium. The BMW X5 (+32.3%) is up six ranks on last year to #5 with the Tesla Model 3 (-18%) and Model Y (-18.5%) each losing one spot to #6 and #7 respectively. The Mercedes GLE (+4.1%) stays at #8 above the BMW 3 Series (-14.7%) down two to #9 and the BMW X3 (+26.7%) up four to #10. Notice also the Volvo S90 (+76.3%), Mercedes C-Class (+41.5%), VW Tiguan (+27.6%) and BMW 6 Series (+25%) racking up great gains below. The Polestar 2 (#29) is the best-selling 2022 launch ahead of the BMW i4 (#35).
Previous year: South Korea 2021: Hyundai Porter best-seller, Genesis up 28% in market down -8.6%
Two years ago: South Korea 2020: Market up 5.8%, Genesis up to #3 brand, Hyundai Grandeur best-seller
Full Year 2022 Top 30 all brands, Top 67 all local models and Top 50 foreigners vs. Full Year 2021 figures below.
Full December 2022 Top 30 all brands, Top 55 all local models and Top 50 foreigners below.
