In 2022, the best-selling car in South Korea was the Porter 2 by Hyundai, with more than 92.4 thousand units sold. All of the cars featured on this list were produced by companies from Hyundai Motor Group, which included Hyundai, Genesis, and Kia. Hyundai Motor Company’s domestic market share stood at almost 40 percent that year.
Hyundai Motor Group’s domestic success
Recent data revealed that Kia Motors and Hyundai Motor Company were the leading car manufacturers in South Korea, maintaining their domestic dominance in the automobile sector. Counting all three car manufacturers under Hyundai Motor Group, their combined market share of local car brands stood at over 88 percent in 2022. Despite the dominance of local car manufacturers, the share of imported passenger cars in South Korea steadily increased over the years, recording its highest share in 2021. The majority of imported cars came from German car manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, or Audi.
Worldwide contribution of the automobile industry
South Korea placed fourth in worldwide passenger car production, behind its neighbors China and Japan as well as India. In 2021, Hyundai Motor Company sold over three million cars outside of South Korea. Particularly North America was the biggest export market for Hyundai cars. However, not only the exports of domestically produced automobiles showed high figures. The overall output from overseas production across eight different countries exceeded the automaker’s domestic production numbers. India is especially seen as a growing market in both production and export for the company.
