South Korea - Demand for light-duty trucks and minibuses remains stable as market stabilizes with 2.0% growth in Q4/2020
By Jim Gibbins - 1st March 2021
South Korea - Sales of domestic light commercial vehicles between 2-5 tons gvw in South Korea expanded by 2% to 48,711 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from weak year-earlier sales of 47,752 units, resulting in a 2.6% drop in full-year sales to 194,791 from 200,021 units in 2019. The data excludes limited volumes of some imported models, most notably the Renault-Samsung Master commercial van.
Hyundai reported a 12.6% fall in conventional Porter light truck sales to 86,157 units last year, but the recent launch of the battery-powered model offset some of that decline. Sales of its Starex minibus/van plunged by over 11% to 36,190 units. Kia reported a 4.6% rise in combined sales of its Bongo light truck sales and special-purpose vehicles to 63,407 units combined.
