South Korea October 2023: Hyundai defies negative market, Kia Sorento #1 again, Hyundai Santa Fe #3

The Hyundai Santa Fe signs its first podium finish in over 3 years.

New light vehicle sales in South Korea drop -4.8% year-on-year in October to 138,341 units. This includes 117,012 local manufacturers (-2.5%) and 21,329 foreigners (-15.9%). Year-to-date, the market remains in positive at +5.1% to 1,424,325 including 1,205,239 locals (+6.7%) and 219,071 foreigners (-2.9%). Hyundai (+14.7%) defies the depleted market to lodge a double-digit gain and reach 41% share vs. 36.8% year-to-date. Threatened by sister brand Kia last year, this time it has a clear 13,800 unit advantage and almost 10 percentage points of share. Kia indeed is down -0.2% to 31.1% share vs. 33% so far this year. Genesis (-32.7%) craters but stays in 3rd place above competitors Mercedes (-14.3%) and BMW (-11.4%) both falling faster than the market. GM Korea (+9.8%) shines in 6th position whereas KG Mobility (ex Ssangyong, -51.5%) freefalls. The situation is even worse for Renault Korea (-66.6%). Below, notice Volvo (+123.1%), Toyota (+49.8%) and Lincoln (+135.7%) all in great share but below 1% share. 

As for the domestic car ranking, the Kia Sorento (+71.2%) is boosted by the new model to repeat at #1. This is only the 2nd time the Sorento ever tops the South Korean charts. Below a weak Hyundai Porter (-4.9%), the new gen Hyundai Santa Fe (+206.1%) triples its year-ago volume and steps up two spots on September to crack the podium for the first time since August 2020. The Hyundai Grandeur (+75.8%) also impresses but drops two ranks on last month to #$. It however retains the YTD top spot, a comfortable 14,000 sales above the Porter. The Hyundai Avante (-10.7%) and Kia Bongo (-16.8%) struggle below unlike the Hyundai Sonata (+45.9%) and Kia Ray (+43.4%). The Hyundai Tucson (+98.5%), Kona (+495.1%) and Venue (+68.4%) also surge ahead.

Over in the foreign models charts, the Mercedes E-Class (+29.1%) reclaims the top spot, a ranking it now also holds year-to-date, bypassing the BMW 5 Series (-75.8%). The Tesla Model Y goes from just 1 sale in October 2022 to 2,814 this month, enough for a 2nd place. It accesses the 3rd rank year-to-date as a result. The BMW 3 Series (+718.8%) completes the podium. The BMW X7 (+3240%), Lexus ES (+55.1%), Mercedes S-Class (+49.7%) and Volvo XC60 (+746.3%) also make themselves noticed in the remainder of the Top 10. 

Previous month: South Korea September 2023: Kia Sorento scores first win, Hyundai Santa Fe up to #5

One year ago: South Korea October 2022: Hyundai Porter and Kia Bongo lead, Hyundai Ioniq 6 just misses out on Top 10

Full October 2023 Top 32 All brands, Top 55 All domestic models and Top 50 foreign models below.