A new king has been born in the South Korean market. The All-New KIA Carnival is South Korea’s best selling car during June with a total of 8,097 units sold. For the first time and after 8th consecutive months, the Sorento has lost his position with “only” 7,307 units. The top three ends with another KIA, the Sportage, with 5,815 units. Hyundai’s 5th generation Santa Fe sold 5,000 units and its now 8th.
Hyundai Motor launched the 5th generation model Santa Fe in August 2023 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. While initially 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. Again in November, the Santa Fe reached 8,780 units sold (the best month so far). During December sales decreased to 7,682 units while in January sold 8,016 units, the best data so far, but in February a new rival took the second place. March or April placed Santa Fe in the 5th place and now sales keeps dropping.
Kia also launched the 4th generation Sorento’s facelift in August and started selling it in South Korea. The Kia Sorento was a very popular SUV and ranked first in sales for the past fourth consecutive years.
Will KIA remain in the Top 3 during July?
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 5,786 units. Again in November and December, Kia Sorento tops the sales chart with 9,364 units and was close to the 10,000 barrier respectively, while in January sold another 9,284 units. February, March and April were another triumph for the Sorento.
What was unexpected was Santa Fe sales drop in May and June, with Sportage, Hyundai Grandeur, Kia Carnival forward or even Hyundai Sonata forward. Did the All-New Santa Fe failed again even with the new generation?
