SEOUL : The domestic annual sales of Hyundai Motor Co.’s Grandeur full-size sedan and Santa Fe crossover are each expected easily to surpass the 100,000 unit mark, industry sources said Sunday. Market watchers said the midsize Santa Fe SUV is presently vying for the best-selling car title for 2018, which would be a first for a crossover in South Korea. The Santa Fe’s main rival is the Grandeur, a near luxury car that has been a popular steady seller in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, where consumers have been moving away from midsize and compact sedans. In the first 10 months of the year, sales of the Grandeur, which was formally sold as the Azera in the U.S., sold 92,491 units, placing it first, with the Santa Fe coming in second with 89,558 units. As of this year, average monthly sales of the Grandeur and Santa Fe stand at 9,249 and 8,955 units, respectively, making it highly likely that total sales of the two will each be around 110,000 vehicles.
If the sales figures are reached, it will mark the second year in a row that the Grandeur sales will surpass the milestone figure, while it will be the first time ever for a SUV to achieve the sale number here. Industry sources said that since 2000, there have been numerous cars that have posted sales in excess of 100,000 units per year, with the notable vehicles being Hyundai’s Sonata midsize, the Avante compact and the Morning subcompact by Kia Motors Corp.