SUV, minivan sales reach 52% of car market in Q1

Sales of leisure vehicles in South Korea, primarily sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and minivans, exceeded half of domestic finished car sales in the first quarter of 2022 for the first time ever. The market share of sedans in Korea dropped to the early 30% level during the quarter.

A total of 159,379 leisure vehicle units were sold in the first quarter, accounting for 51.7% of the 308,298 units sold by Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Corp., Renault Korea Motors Co., GM Korea Co. and Ssangyong Motor Co., according to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) on April 17.

The rise in leisure vehicle sales was backed by SUVs -- in January, Hyundai said its operating profit in 2021 nearly tripled to 6.68 trillion won from 2.39 trillion won in 2020, driven by robust sales of its luxury Genesis models and high-end SUVs.

Leisure vehicles' domestic market share rose by 5.3% from 46.4% in the same period of 2021. The segment's sales are expected to exceed 50% for full-year 2022, compared with 47.5% in 2021. Sales of sedans in the first quarter were 32.6% with 100,602 units, down 4.3% from the same period of 2021.    

Leisure vehicles in Korea have become increasingly common over the past decade, with the segment's sales in 2016 reaching 542,032 units, double the 275,433 units in 2010. Their sales soared to 603,069 in 2018, 718,295 in 2020 and 681,521 last year despite the global automobile chip shortage. The average annual sales growth rate from 2010 to 2021 was 8.6%.  

More consumers chose such cars in line with the rising popularity of leisure activities such as car camping and golf. Increased family leisure in the COVID-19 era also contributed to leisure vehicles' sales growth.

Domestic carmakers are ramping up their leisure vehicles, with the number of lineups in this segment surging from 18 in 2010 to 32 in the first quarter of 2022. The range of sizes has also expanded, including Hyundai’s compact SUV Casper and midsize luxury SUV Genesis GV80, Ssangyong’s large SUV Rexton Sports Khan and GM’s pickup truck Chevy Colorado. Korean automakers will continue to promote leisure cars amid their transition to more eco-friendly vehicles  -- Kia said in January it will improve profitability this year by launching new SUVs and electric cars. 

Write to Han-Shin Park at phs@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.