Hyundai Motor’s Grandeur Hybrid tops green car sales in Korea

The all-new Grandeur Hybrid [Courtesy of Hyundai Motor]

Hyundai Motor Co.’s Grandeur sedan is making remarkable strides in South Korea’s environmentally-friendly car market, with hybrid sales tripling over the past year.

According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) on Friday, a total of 57,107 Grandeur Hybrid sedans were sold in Korea from January to November this year, up 198.8 percent from the same period last year.

Sales of the Grandeur sedan stood at 104,652 units in the first 11 months of this year, which means that hybrids accounted for 54.6 percent of the entire sales.

It is the first time that hybrid sales have surpassed half of the Grandeur’s total sales.

The Grandeur Hybrid comes at a higher price than the gasoline model but it has gained popularity due to the convenient fueling system for the internal combustion engine and fuel efficiency.

The Grandeur sedan is expected to become the best-selling car of the year, with sales of both gasoline and hybrid models already surpassing 100,000 units.

The second-best-selling hybrid model in Korea, in the meantime, was Kia Corp.’s sport utility vehicle (SUV), Sorento, with sales of 51,818 units. The Sorento Hybrid accounted for more than half of the entire Sorento sales at 77,743 units.

In the first 11 months of this year, 335,211 hybrid cars were sold in Korea.

“Given the current strong performance of hybrid cars in Korea, production is expected to expand next year,” said an industry insider.