Despite receiving a powerful upgrade in design and equipment, the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe still has much lower sales than its fellow Korean competitor, the Kia Sorento.
In August 2023, Hyundai officially unveiled the fifth-generation Santa Fe with a new design, along with a range of upgrades in interior, technology, and engine. The 2024 Santa Fe is expected to help Hyundai achieve a “comeback” in terms of sales compared to its rival in the same group, the Kia Sorento. However, the Sorento was also upgraded shortly after, making the race between these two models even more dramatic.
As a result, in the past year 2023, Hyundai Santa Fe continued to lag behind Kia Sorento in the domestic market. Last year, Hyundai sold 51,343 Santa Fe in Korea, much lower than the figure of 85,811 vehicles sold by Kia Sorento. With the above performance, Santa Fe ranked 8th in terms of sales volume while Sorento was at the 3rd position. Besides, Kia Sorento is also the most popular SUV in the land of Kimchi.
The eye-catching design of the new Hyundai Santa Fe is considered one of the reasons why this SUV model is lagging behind its fellow competitors. In addition, the 2024 Santa Fe hybrid version was introduced quite late (in October 2023), so there was not enough time to make a change before its rival Sorento.
The best-selling model in Korea is the Hyundai Grandeur with sales of 113,062 vehicles. This is a mid-size luxury sedan, positioned higher than the Sonata.
The second position belongs to Hyundai Porter with 97,675 vehicles sold in 2023. This truck model has a fairly stable sales volume and is regularly present in the year-end sales summary. The 4th and 5th positions belong to two Kia models, the Carnival and Sportage, with respective sales of 69,857 and 69,749 vehicles. In addition, the top 10 best-selling cars in South Korea also includes the Hyundai Avante (Elantra), Kia Bongo truck, Kia Ray, and Kia Seltos.
Globally, the Hyundai Motor Group, including Hyundai, Genesis, and Kia, achieved sales of 7.3 million vehicles in 2023, a 6.7% increase compared to 2022. Among them, Hyundai sold 4,216,680 vehicles, while Kia sold 3,085,771 vehicles.
Thái Sơn (Tuoitrethudo)