South Korea May 2025: Hyundai Palisade breaks records in stable market

The Hyundai Palisade is up to 2nd place overall at home.

141,430 cars hit South Korean roads in May, stable at +0.4% year-on-year. This includes 113,241 local carmakers (-2.9%) and 28,189 foreigners (+16.4%). Hyundai (-5%) and Kia (-2.4%) continue to dominate, adding up to a 66.9% combined market share vs. 69.6% so far this year. Genesis (-6.1%) drops below the 10,000 monthly sales mark for the first time since January but remains a distant #3. Reversing the global trend, it’s a fantastic month for Tesla (+57.7%) up to #4 overall and the best-selling foreign brand. It ranks #8 year-to-date, like last year. Mercedes (+7.9%) and BMW (+2.6%) are solid ahead of Renault Korea (+121%) surging again thanks to the Grand Koleos. Porsche (+205.6%) is also in outstanding shape at #10. Newcomer BYD stays at #17 with 0.4% share while Polestar (+1416.7%) continues to gear up.

Over in the domestic models charts, the Kia Sorento (+3.3%) lodges a 9th consecutive month in the lead, but this time it is threatened by the Hyundai Palisade (+475.4%) shooting up to a record 2nd place just 52 sales below and also reaching an all-time high monthly volume at 7,682. Previous bests for the nameplate were #3 in June 2022 and 6,583 sales in April 2019. The Kia Carnival (-7.8%), Hyundai Avante (+11.1%) and Kia Sportage (-20.3%) all recede one spot on last month to close up the Top 5. The rest of the Top 12 drops by double-digits. 

As for foreign models, the Tesla Model Y (+904.3%) triumphs with over 6,200 sales vs. 2,348 for the #2, the Mercedes E Class (+4.6%). The BMW 5 Series (+45%) completes the podium and is the only additional models to record more than 900 sales. The Mercedes GLE (+47.1%) and BMW X5 (+58.4%) both post splendid scores while the Porsche Cayenne (+402.7%) does even better at #8. The new BYD Atto 3 is inside the Top 10 for the 2nd month running at #9.

Previous month: South Korea April 2025: New gen pushes Hyundai Palisade to #5, Kia EV4 lands

One year ago: South Korea May 2024: Kia Sorento pulls 5th straight win, Hyundai ST1 lands

Full May 2025 Top 32 All brands, Top 57 All local models and Top 50 foreigners below.