Hyundai unseats Volvo as No. 1 truck brand in Korea

Hyundai Motor Co. has unseated construction truck leader Volvo in South Korea for the first time, driven by its flagship Xcient Pro model that sent the South Korean carmaker’s commercial vehicle sales about 20% higher in the first half.  

In the first six months of this year, Hyundai sold 347 units of "8x4 dump trucks," with eight wheels in back and four wheels in front, in the country, according to CarIsYou, a South Korean data provider.

The first-half sales volume is close to the 380 units of the heavy-duty trucks it sold in all of 2023 in Korea.

In the first half, Hyundai controlled 33.3% of the domestic construction truck market, above Volvo’s 29.3%. The Swedish carmaker sold 305 units of construction trucks in the country in the same period.

Volvo has been the No. 1 heavy-duty truck brand in South Korea for decades, commanding 44.5% of the market in 2020.

In 2006, Hyundai launched its first construction truck under the Xient brand in collaboration with another Swedish commercial vehicle maker Scania. In 2019, Hyundai rolled out its facelift, Xcient Pro.

In 2023, Hyundai climbed to the No. 2 position in South Korea’s heavy-duty truck market, pushing Scania to third place.

The Swedish brand's market share fell to 20.3% in 2023, versus the previous year's 25.2%. It further decreased to 17.5% in the first half of this year.

Hyundai has outperformed global rivals on its home turf with improved after-sales service and price competitiveness.

The MAN TGS and the Mercedes-Benz 3951 with 510 horsepower each sell for around 300 million won ($224,200). 

The price tags of the Volvo FMX and the Scania R540 exceed 300 million won, about 100 million won more expensive than the Hyundai Xcient Pro. The three models feature 540 horsepower.

Hyundai’s commercial vehicle sales jumped about 20% to 1.6 trillion won in the first half of this year from the year prior.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.