November 2008 sales down 3percent, but Picanto tops the sales chart

November car-sales chart by model, for Korean auto market, reveals the top selling vehicle in the country has been a vehicle from Kia’s range! To my surprise, the best selling vehicle in Korea in the past month has been Picanto minicar.

With sales of 7,596 units, Picanto beat Hyundai Sonata, a long-time market leader, which took second spot last month. In November, Sonata’s sales fell sharply from previous month (from 11,237 to 6,502 units), while Picanto sales equaled last month’s numbers (7,596 vs. 7,594).

Earlier this year, Kia Picanto received a mid-cycle facelift. It was officially launched in Korean market in January this year, just a few days after Mohave SUV went on sale. Since then, it has experienced a storming growth, with sales increasing 300% compared to last year.

In the first four months, Kia sold more than 30,000 Picantos and those Korean consumers who have ordered the car have been waiting for three months to get it. So Kia had to increase it’s production in order to decrease the period of time needed to deliver the car.

Thanks to strong sales of other Kia vehicles, especially it’s fleet of sedans (Lotze/Optima Forte) and newcomer Soul, the company (Kia Motors) also acquired the largest domestic market share since 1993, when it held 37,2% of the market. In October, Kia held 32% market share, while last month it has increased it to 35,6%. Together with Hyundai, it now holds more than 80 percent of domestic market share.

Kia Motors has also been the sole automaker last month that increased it’s domestic monthly sales compared to last year, but Internationally, it could not avoid a global slump, which eroded the demand for new cars. Overall, Kia sales in November has decreased by 3% to 133,507 units, compared to 137,657 units sold last years.

In the 11 months of this year, Kia Motors sold 1,274,539 vehicles, 288,925 were sold to domestic customers, while 985,614 units were exported to foreign countries.

Combined sales of the five automakers, Hyundai, Kia, GM Daewoo, Ssangyong and Renault Samsung, slid to 445,111 vehicles last month, about 40,000 units short of 486,762 units sold a year earlier.

Korean carmaker sales worldwide:

Hyundai Motor: 234,211 (-1,6%)
Kia Motors: 133,507 (-3%)
GM Daewoo: 62,255 (-29%)
Renault Samsung: 11,302 (-16%)
Ssangyong: 3835 (-63%)