Kia outsells Hyundai in Korea over a full quarter for the first time

Kia outsold Hyundai Motor in Korea in the third quarter, its first quarterly win over the Hyundai Motor Group flagship since Hyundai acquired it in 1998. Hyundai stalled amid strikes and a lull in new models, while Kia's SUVs and electric vehicles kept selling.

Kia sold 140,522 vehicles in Korea from July to September, against Hyundai's 131,468, a gap of 9,054. Kia's tally, which excludes special-purpose vehicles, rose 2.2 percent from a year earlier, while Hyundai's plunged 27.2 percent from 180,558.

Kia led in July with 54,604 vehicles to Hyundai's 48,113, and again in August, 40,213 to 34,333. Hyundai pulled back ahead in September with 49,022 vehicles to Kia's 45,705, but not by enough to take the quarter.

Kia first topped Hyundai in monthly domestic sales in April, 55,045 vehicles to 54,051. Hyundai edged back ahead in the second quarter, 157,647 to Kia's 154,266.

Hyundai still leads for the year, having sold 448,181 vehicles in Korea from January through September to Kia's 436,301, but the gap has narrowed to 11,880. Hyundai's nine-month total is its lowest since the 2008 global financial crisis. 

Recreational vehicles, a category led by SUVs, made up 91,676 of Kia's domestic sales in the quarter, or 65 percent. That is more than double the 41,287 recreational vehicles Hyundai sold, not counting its Genesis luxury brand.

The Sorento SUV was Kia's top seller in Korea in the quarter at 19,507 units, followed by the Carnival minivan at 16,389, the Seltos at 16,156 and the Sportage at 14,752. Kia also sold 6,104 PV5 electric vans.

"Kia has plenty of mid- to high-priced SUVs, and its EV lineup, including the EV3, EV4 and EV5, is tightly packed," Kim Pil-soo, a professor of automotive engineering at Daelim University, said.

Given that sales mix, Kia could also come out ahead on profitability in the third quarter, Kim said. Kia's operating margin was 8 percent in the second quarter, against Hyundai's 5.8 percent.

Hyundai, by contrast, was hit by strikes and an aging lineup of core models. Sales of its mainstay SUVs all fell, including the Tuscon, the Santa Fe and the Palisade. 

The industry estimates that 60 hours of strikes by Hyundai's union this year cost the carmaker about 55,200 vehicles in lost production. The walkouts, which included the union's first full-day strike in a decade on Aug. 21, ended when members ratified a wage deal on Sept. 1.

Kia's global sales, Korea included, reached 846,764 vehicles in the third quarter, the most for any third quarter since the carmaker began selling cars in 1962. Hyundai's global sales fell more than 11 percent from a year earlier.

Hyundai is aiming for a fourth-quarter rebound. It plans to release the all-new Tucson, the fifth generation of the SUV, in Korea this month. The GV80 Hybrid, the first hybrid model from the Genesis brand, is also set for release this month.

"September was affected by fewer business days due to the Chuseok holiday and by customers holding off for new models," a Hyundai spokesperson said. "We will continue to roll out new models with strong product appeal, such as the all-new Tucson, to expand sales."

BY SUK GYEONG-MIN [[email protected]]