Korea's 'Myvi' is no compact car, Hyundai Grandeur is the most popular for last 10 years

In Malaysia, the reigning king as the most popular car is the Perodua Myvi while in Indonesia, the best-selling car is the Toyota Avanza. In Korea it’s a whole different story because the best-selling car in the past 10 years is not a common folk car but the luxury sedan Hyundai Grandeur.

According to Kaizu U Data Research Centre, the Hyundai Grandeur sold 1,016,810 units from January 2012 to December 2021.

That is over 130,000 units more than the second-place best-seller the Hyundai Avante, better known to us as the Hyundai Elantra, which sold 876,842 units in the last 10 years.

Following the Elantra are the Hyundai Sonata which sold 872,546 units, Hyundai Santa Fe with 738,815 units, and the Kia Morning (better known to us as the Kia Picanto) selling 698,869 units.

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Yes, the top ten spots were mostly taken by Hyundai and Kia with Kia’s Sorento (610,885 units), Carnival (580,772 units), and the newly renamed Kia K5, better known to us as the Kia Optima, (565,596 units) in sixth, seventh, and eighth.

The only non-local brand in the top ten is the Chevrolet Spark selling 495,431 units in the last 10 years, followed by the Hyundai Tucson (447,608 units).

Of course, by brand, Hyundai sold the most cars with 4,887,937 units sold while Kia trails behind having sold 4,526,804 units sold. Surprisingly, Chevrolet is quite a popular brand in Korea as they sold a total of 844,170 units in the last ten years.

Among imported luxury car brands, Mercedes-Benz maintains its lead with 556,262 passenger cars registered while BMW trails behind with 476,266 units sold. 

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Like the Honda Civic and Accord are household names for us, the Grandeur holds the same status for Koreans. It is often marketed as a status of success amongst Koreans as is seen in the ad above.

The Grandeur nameplate started way back in 1986 as a rebadged Mitsubishi Debonair. Even though the car was officially launched in 1986, Hyundai took the opportunity the 1988 Seoul Olympics gave them to market the Grandeur to executives and VIPs.

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Now in its sixth generation, the Grandeur is clearly still Korea’s favourite choice of a sedan even though the model met moderate success overseas. The Grandeur took home the title as the best-selling in 2020 edging out more globally popular models like the Sonata.

The Grandeur is a front-wheel-drive sedan measuring 4,990 x 1,875 x 1,480 mm in length, width, and height and has a wheelbase of 2,885 mm. The flagship sedan comes with a choice of five powertrain options including a hybrid and an LPG option.

It is hard to explain why the Hyundai Grandeur is so popular in Korea since the model is at least 40 percent more expensive than the Hyundai Sonata.

It could be due to the Korean mindset that sees the Grandeur as a better bargain over the Sonata as it is more spacious and luxurious, so if they’re going to buy a sedan it makes more sense to opt for the more expensive Grandeur instead.

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