Hyundai’s 5th generation Santa Fe completed its first full month of sales with its full line-up and its now fighting for the top position in the South Korean market against the Kia Sorento.
Hyundai Motor launched the 5th generation model Santa Fe in August and started selling it only with a gasoline engine. In the first two months when the new Santa Fe sales began, the hybrid model was not available, making it difficult to enjoy the full new car effect.
Back in October, deliveries of the Hybrid model started and sales have jumped significantly. Santa Fe, which recorded 550 units in August and 4329 units in September, began to enjoy the effect of new car, selling 7946 units in October thanks to the added Hybrid powertrain. Of these, 4,669 were hybrid models, accounting for 58.7%.
Kia also launched the 4th generation Sorento’s facelift in August and started selling it in earnest. The Kia Sorento was a very popular SUV and ranked first in sales for the past three consecutive years.
The New Sorento maintained sales by continuing the popularity of the existing Sorento, while also achieving an increase in sales due to the new car effect immediately after its launch. It showed a noticeable upward trend, surpassing 7,000 units in August, when the launch took place, and over 10,000 units in September next month.
The new Sorento also ranked first in October domestic car sales, with 8,777 units even in October, when the Santa Fe hybrid began to ship. Of these, hybrid model sales accounted for 65.9% with 5786 units.
An automobile industry official said, “The rivalry of Santa Fe and Sorento has been revived in the mid-sized SUV market. It can be seen that the ‘finals’ structure has been formed by adding KG Mobility’s Torres, which was launched in July last year and recorded cumulative sales of 50,000 units in more than a year.”
