Korea - Automotive Sales volume, 2025

*The number of units listed is the number at the time of the announcement.



Flash report, Automotive sales volume, 2025

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Flash report, January 2025

Feb 3, 2025

*There are cases where recently released data and detailed information in the database do not match up for reasons including different information sources, and discrepancies between preliminary reports and confirmed data.

New vehicle sales by 5 major OEMs in South Korea decrease 11.8% in January
Five Korean automakers announced domestic new vehicle sales in January. New vehicle sales in South Korea declined by 11.8% year-over-year (y/y) to 90,587 units. Due to the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday, the reduction in business days in February also affected production for both domestic sales and exports.
By company, Hyundai Motor was the leader with sales of 46,054 units (50.8% market share), a decrease of 7.5% year-over-year (y/y), followed by Kia Motors with a 13.9% decrease to 38,403 units (42.4% share). Renault Korea came in third place with a 58.1% increase to 2,601 units (2.9% share). KGM sales decreased by 38.9% to 2,300 units (2.5% share), and fifth GM Korea experienced a decrease in sales of 57.5% to 1,229 units (1.4% share). Despite temporarily halting operations at its Busan plant for one month in January 2025 to upgrade its EV production facilities, Renault Korea was the only company to achieve sales growth.
Overseas sales, including exports, decreased 1.4% at Hyundai, 24.6% at GM Korea. Sales increased by 0.1% at Kia, 438.1 % at Renault Korea and 5.0% at KGM. In total, overseas sales decreased by 2.4% to 502,623 units.
Global sales of five automakers in January were mixed, with Hyundai's global sales down 2.3% y/y to 310,399 units, Kia’s sales down 2.4% to 239,396 units and GM Korea’s sales decreased 26.8% to 31,618 units. KGM’s sales decreased 13.0% to 7,980 units. Meanwhile, Renault Korea more than doubled its sales, increasing 104.0% to 3,817 units. Total global sales for the five companies fell 3.9% y/y to 593,210 units.
By model in January, Kia’s mid-size SUV Sorento was ranked first with 7,454 units sold, followed by Kia’s compact SUV Sportage in second place with 6,547 units sold and Kia’s MPV Carnival was third in sales with 6,068 units.

South Korea - Sales of domestic make (Jan. 2025)

Make Domestic Sales Overseas Sales Global Sales Total
2025 2024 Y-o-Y Jan.
2025
Jan.
2024
Y-o-Y Jan.
2025
Jan.
2024
Y-o-Y
Jan. Share *1 Jan. Share *1
Hyundai
46,054
50.8%
49,810
48.5%
-7.5%
264,345
268,013
-1.4%
310,399
317,823
-2.3%
Kia
38,403
42.4%
44,608
43.4%
-13.9%
200,993
200,794
0.1%
239,396
245,402
-2.4%
Renault Korea *3
2,601
2.9%
1,645
1.6%
58.1%
1,216
226
438.1%
3,817
1,871
104.0%
KGM
2,300
2.5%
3,762
3.7%
-38.9%
5,680
5,410
5.0%
7,980
9,172
-13.0%
GM Korea *2
1,229
1.4%
2,894
2.8%
-57.5%
30,389
40,300
-24.6%
31,618
43,194
-26.8%
Total
90,587
100.0%
102,719
100.0%
-11.8%
502,623
514,743
-2.4%
593,210
617,462
-3.9%

Source: Releases by each companies
*1: Share is based on MarkLines' own calculation. (calculated from total sales of five Korean makers)
*2: Exclude sales volume of Cadillac
*3: Includes Nissan Rogue

Registrations of new imported passenger cars

Maker/Brand 2025 2024 Y-o-Y
Jan. Share Jan. Share
BMW 5,960 39.1% 4,330 33.1% 37.6%
Mercedes-Benz 3,790 24.9% 2,931 22.4% 29.3%
Lexus 1,126 7.4% 998 7.6% 12.8%
Volvo 1,033 6.8% 965 7.4% 7.0%
Porsche 644 4.2% 677 5.2% -4.9%
Ford/Lincoln 500 3.3% 514 3.9% -2.7%
Toyota 430 2.8% 786 6.0% -45.3%
Land Rover 325 2.1% 340 2.6% -4.4%
Audi 320 2.1% 179 1.4% 78.8%
MINI 234 1.5% 543 4.2% -56.9%
Honda 177 1.2% 177 1.4% 0.0%
Chevrolet 134 0.9% 155 1.2% -13.5%
Volkswagen 129 0.8% 53 0.4% 143.4%
Chrysler/Jeep 120 0.8% 213 1.6% -43.7%
Polestar 103 0.7% 0 0.0% -%
Lamborghini 58 0.4% 7 0.1% 728.6%
Peugeot 38 0.2% 101 0.8% -62.4%
Ferrari 32 0.2% - -% -%
Cadillac 26 0.2% 57 0.4% -54.4%
GM/GMC 14 0.1% 18 0.1% -22.2%
Maserati 14 0.1% 16 0.1% -12.5%
Bentley 10 0.1% 13 0.1% -23.1%
Rolls-Royce 7 0.0% 9 0.1% -22.2%
Tesla 5 0.0% 1 0.0% 400.0%
Total 15,229 100.0% 13,083 100.0% 16.4%

Source: Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA)


PAGETOP