End of year's Korean car market full of surprises

By Park Sae-jin Posted : December 4, 2015, 10:16 Updated : December 4, 2015, 10:17

EQ900 - Hyundai Motor Group[Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group]



Car market facing the end of the year is usually very quiet, honing their blades for the New Year. Preparing to release new cars at the year’s start to increase sales. But Korean car market this year’s different.

Less than a month left until the end of the year, Kia Motors released “K5 Hybrid” on Wednesday. It aims to follow its brother K5’s facelift models’ success by attacking the niche market of eco-friendly vehicles.

The new K5, which was released last July, recorded 26,222 sales until the end of November. Experts of the industry expect to boost in sales for both the new K5 and its hybrid model.

Hyundai Motor Group is also scheduled to release a new model on December 9th. EQ900, the first sedan released as the largest automotive company in Korea’s new luxury brand – Genesis.

Being the flagship model of Genesis, EQ900 is filled with the latest technology which Hyundai can offer. It is to compete with the most luxury imported sedans such as Mercedes Benz S Class and BMW’s 7 Series.

Consumer’s response to the release of EQ900 was hot. On its first day of pre-orders, more than 4,300 reservations were made. Compared to the numbers of pre-orders of its previous model Equus’ 1,180, nearly four times have increased.

Imported Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) are also to be released this month. Ford’s mid-sized Cougar is to start its sale on 7th.


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