South Korea March 2011: Avante #1, Orlando & Korando arrive

Chevrolet Orlando

* Thanks to Rutger (DC) at AutoWeek NL for the data! *

The Hyundai Avante is back into pole position in March, a place it has held 7 out of the last 8 months, this time with 12,173 sales and 9.1% share. The Kia Morning new generation falls back to #2 at 8.6%, just above the Hyundai Grandeur, still very strong at 8.3% share and keeping the Hyundai Sonata at bay (#4 at 7.1%).

This month Chevrolet started in South Korea, all Daewoo models will henceforth be sold under the Chevrolet brand. The Daewoo Matiz Creative becomes the Chevrolet Spark and grabs 3.6% and the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere becomes the Chevrolet Cruze and holds 2.3%.

First month of sales for the Ssang Yong Korando C, #21 at 2,073 sales, and the Chevrolet Orlando, #23 at 1,526 sales.

Full Top 30 Ranking Table: click on ‘Read more’ below the Korando pic.

Ssang Yong Korando C

South Korea February 2011: new Kia Morning off to flying start

The new generation Kia Morning (aka Picanto), launched in South Korea in late January, puts an end to 6 consecutive months of Hyundai Avante domination with 12,294 sales and 11.2% of the market. It is followed closely by the Hyundai Grandeur at an amazing 11,755 sales (11%), up 4 spots from last month.

Behind the Hyundai Porter at a solid 7.1%, the Hyundai Sonata stays relatively weak at 7%, the Hyundai Avante (aka Elantra) drops to 5th with 6.9% and the Kia K5 (aka Optima) has stabilised just under 6% market share at 5.8%.

Full Top 30 Ranking Table below.

Historical Data now available for 10 additional countries

The VW CitiGolf was #3 in South Africa in 2005.

Historical Data has now been uploaded for 10 additional countries: Belgium (up to 1989), Colombia (up to 2002), Croatia (2003), Ireland (2000), Mexico (2003), New Zealand (2004), Pakistan (1995), South Africa (2004), South Korea (1997) and Taiwan (2007).

Witness the dominance of the Suzuki Mehran in Pakistan, of the Hyundai Sonata in South Korea and of the Ford Focus in Ireland, the strong figures of the Toyota Tazz and VW CitiGolf in South Africa, the establishment of the Toyota Corolla’s leadership in New Zealand and much more…

Click on ‘Read more’ below for all the direct links to these 39 new posts. Enjoy!

South Korea January 2011: new Hyundai Grandeur up to 6th

Hyundai Grandeur

The Hyundai Avante (aka Elantra) keeps the lead in South Korea for the 6th consecutive month with a comfortable margin at 11.2% share. The Hyundai Sonata drops to 4th at 6.7%, perhaps impacted by the arrival of the new generation Hyundai Grandeur, up 15 spots in 6th with 6,632 sales and 5.5% of the market.

Notice the Kia K5 back up in 5th with 5.6% share. The Kia Sportage R and Samsung SM3 (aka Renault Fluence) are solid at 4% both at #9 and 10 respectively, and the new Hyundai Accent enters the Top 20 at #19. Full Top 30 Ranking Table below.

South Korea December 2010: Avante #1 again, Matiz Creative #5

The Hyundai Avante (Elantra) has now been at the top of the South Korean sales for 5 months in a row, with 12.7% in December. The Hyundai Sonata, #2 this month, should however still be the best selling car in the country over the full year 2010.

The Daewoo Matiz Creative (aka Chevrolet Spark) delivers an excellent 5.3% share and is up to 5th, ahead of a Kia K5 slipping down further, now under the 5% mark at 4.7%. The Kia Soul is at its best this year in 16th at 2.2% and the new Hyundai Accent is #22 and nearly doubles its market share for its 2nd month of sales at 1.5%.

Click on ‘Read more’ below the picture for the Full Top 30 Ranking Table.

South Korea November 2010: Avante #1, new Accent at #26

Hyundai Avante

In November, the Hyundai Avante (Elantra) holds the pole position in South Korea for the 4th month in a row, even though it’s slowing down slightly at 12.5% market share.

The Sonata resists in 2nd at 10.4% ahead of the Kia Morning (Picanto) at 6.6%, whereas the Kia K5 (Optima) seems to be stabilising around 5.5% market share in 5th place.

For its very first month of sales, the new Hyundai Accent enters the South Korean ranking at #26 with 1,021 sales. The Daewoo Alpheon (aka Buick LaCrosse) breaks into the Top 20 for the first time at #20 with 1,741 sales.

Hyundai Accent

More pictures, Full Top 30 Ranking table below.

South Korea October 2010: Avante at 15%, Sportage up to #7

Kia Sportage

In October, Hyundai gets back to its dominating position with a 1-2-3: the Avante (Elantra) is still riding on the novelty effect wave with close to 20,000 registrations and 15% of the market, the Sonata loses 2 percentage points but stays #2 and the Porter is #3 at 6.8% of the market.

The Kia K5 (Optima) continues to drop and is now 5th at 5.6%, behind the Morning (Picanto). It will be interesting to see where the K5 stabilises after its brilliant start.

Excellent performance of the Kia Sportage: it is now 7th with a solid 4% market share, up from 3.1% last month. The Daewoo Alpheon continues to grow in 25th (1%), and the Hyundai Verna (Accent) new generation is making its first appearance, however well outside the Top 30 with 464 sales.

Full Top 30 October and Imports Top 10 September ranking tables below.

South Korea September 2010

Hyundai Avante

Lots of important model launches this year in South Korea mean changing rankings and a very interesting market indeed. The best-sellers in the country are not always the models that everyone is familiar with in the rest of the world.

The new Hyundai Avante (aka Elantra) confirms the top spot it acquired last month with another very strong figure (16,351 units), outselling traditional #1 Sonata (which still gains more than 5,000 sales over August at 15,064 sales). The two Hyundai best-sellers account for more than 25% of cars sold in South Korea this month!

After a couple of extraordinary months (and a short-lived stunt at #1), the new Kia K5 (aka Optima) slows down significantly but still manages a good 3rd position with almost 8,500 sales.

Full ranking table and more commentaries below.

South Korea 2009: Avante #1, new Sonata sells 60,000 in 4 months

The new Hyundai Sonata launched in South Korea in September 2009.

In 2009, the launch of the new generation Sonata messed up the rankings: the Hyundai Avante takes the lead over the Full Year with an excellent 115,378 sales and close to 10% of the market, followed by the Kia Morning (aka Picanto) at 102,082 sales and 8.7%.

The Hyundai NF Sonata loses its #1 spot and falls to 3rd with 85,071 units and 7.2%. However the new Hyundai YF Sonata, launched in September 2009, is off to an amazing start with 61,255 sales in 4 months, including 16,368 in December (by far #1 then). The combined sales of the two generations of Sonata reach 146,326 units which would place the nameplate #1 in 2009 by a large margin.

Full December 2009 and Full Year 2009 Top 10 Ranking Tables: click on ‘Read more’ below.

The Hyundai Avante is the best selling car in South Korea in 2009.

South Korea 2005-2008: Hyundai Sonata clear leader, Avante #2

Hyundai Sonata

The new generation Sonata launched in August 2004 in South Korea, and helped the nameplate stay on top of the country’s sales ranking in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The Hyundai Avante (aka Elantra) is a solid second, and boosted by the new model launched in late 2006, it even takes the 1st spot momentarily in January 2007. The Hyundai Grandeur, Samsung SM5, Kia Morning (aka Picanto) and Daewoo Matiz follow.

Full January 2007 Top 10 and March/April 2008 Top 35 Ranking Tables: click on ‘Read more’ below.

Hyundai Avante