In March 2024, South Korea's new light vehicle sales still failed to shake off the decline. Sales decreased by 11.6% y/y to 145,658 units, with sales of less than 150,000 units.
- Sales of locally-produced new vehicles were down 14.6% y/y to 120,395 units.
- Imported car sales increased by 6% year-on-year to 25,263 units
On a year-on-year basis, sales in the first three months of 2024 fell by 12.1% year-on-year to 377,043 units, which were less than 380,000 units.
- Sales of locally-produced new vehicles decreased by 12.2% y/y to 322,460 units
- Imported car sales were down 11.5% y/y to 54,584 units
Despite an 18% year-on-year decline, Hyundai won its first monthly title of the year. The sales volume was 50,665 units, with a market share of 34.8%. Kia fell to second place. It fell by 7.6% year-on-year. The sales volume was 49,112 units, with a market share of 33.7%. Compared with the share of more than 38% in January and February, it has fallen a lot.
In third place is still Hyundai's luxury car brand Genesis. Sales reached 11,839 units, marking the fifth consecutive month that Genesis has sold more than 10,000 units. The market share reached 8.1%. It fell 7% year-on-year, and the score was below average.
BMW performed well, bucking the trend and growing by 15.6%. With sales of 6,549 units, it remained in fourth place. BMW is the best-performing imported brand. GM Korea is growing even more. The year-on-year increase reached 20%. It ranked ninth with sales of 2,038 units.
The most popular Japanese brand is still Lexus. Toyota's luxury car brand ranked 10th with 1,218 units sold. This is down 11.5% year-on-year.
In terms of models, Kia accounted for six of the 10 best-selling models of locally produced cars. The champion model is also from Kia, and Kia's advantage is very obvious. The midsize SUV Sorento performed well, with a year-on-year increase of 30.2%. The increase is more than 3 percent. Ranked first with 8,974 units sold. Sorento have been the winner in 6 of the last 7 months.
In second place is the Hyundai tool cart Porter. It fell 21.9% year-on-year, a decline of more than one-fifth. Despite the sharp drop in sales, the Porter still climbed to second place with 8,032 units sold. The ranking has risen by 3 notches from February.
The Hyundai SUV Shengda performed well. The midsize sedan increased by 164.8% year-on-year and more than doubled its sales. Sales of nearly 8,000 units reached 7,884 units. Kia Carnival also performed well, with a year-on-year increase of 11.2%. It ranked fourth with 7,643 units sold. The Carnival is the best-selling MPV model.
None of the top five best-selling models are sedans. In fifth place is the Kia Push-out SUV Sportage. It increased by 11.9% year-on-year, with sales of 6,736 units.
The best-selling sedan is Kia's Grandeur. The year-on-year decline was 44.1%, which was a very strong decline. With sales of 6,100 units, it fell to sixth place.
In terms of imported models, the Tesla Model Y performed the best. Sales of 5,934 units, close to 6,000 units. The year-on-year increase was 484.1%, an increase of nearly 5 times. The BMW 5 Series ranked second, with 2,262 units sold. The Lexus ES came in third.