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News - Market Insight - Market Insight 2025Market Insight: Hyundai versus KiaKia builds a comfortable lead over Hyundai, YTD sales favour Kia by almost 4000 units8 Sep 2025 By MATT BROGAN KIA has established a commanding lead over sister company Hyundai in the Australian market, with year-to-date sales favouring Kia by 3637 units and a 0.4 per cent market share advantage.
The demarcation line between Korean sister companies Hyundai and Kia was once as evident as the Demilitarised Zone separating their country of origin's north and south. Hyundai was the Toyota to Kia's Daihatsu, but not anymore.
In 2025 it is almost impossible to differentiate the duo on the breadth of range, specification levels, equipment offerings, or overall value proposition.
Hyundai's recent announcement of a seven-year warranty removed what was perhaps the final point of difference between the pair, now separated only by styling – and Kia's recent introduction the Tasman dual-cab ute.
August VFACTS figures show Kia ahead of Hyundai by 1080 units, the former taking third position behind Ford as one of Australia's favourite automotive brands.
Hyundai placed fifth behind Mazda, but with the ace up its sleeve of a model offering in the top 10 – the Kona small SUV placed ninth in August with 1983 deliveries.
Year-to-date sales figures paint a bigger picture. To the end of August, Hyundai has sold 51,957 units, up 7.5 per cent on the same time last year, giving the importer a 6.4 per cent market share.
Kia has sold 55,554 units over the same timeframe, up just 1.3 per cent on August 2024 – that increase attributable to the Tasman launch – earning a 6.8 per cent market share.
From the outlook, it seems Kia has the leaderboard to itself. But examining the segments in which Hyundai and Kia compete reveals Australian buyers have clear preferences when deciding which Korean marque is parked on their driveway.
Across the passenger car field, Kia dominates with 17,252 year-to-date sales against Hyundai's 9516.
Despite Kia having fewer entrants in the passenger category, its Picanto micro car and Carnival people mover dominate their respective segments.
In the micro segment, Kia's Picanto has achieved 4991 sales YTD with Hyundai offering no competitor. Hyundai's i20 notched up 945 sales against no Kia entrant.
The small segment sees Hyundai's i30 ahead with 7447 sales versus the combined Cerato and (recently introduced) K4 tally of 4949. Hyundai holds the medium segment with 348 Ioniq 6 and Sonata sales, while the Carnival’s 7312 sales dwarf the Staria's 776.
Across the all-important SUV segment, Hyundai leads with year-to-date sales of 40,479 units against Kia's 36,609.
Hyundai is ahead of Kia in the light SUV and small SUV segments, with the Venue and Inster pairing taking a 1267-unit lead over the Kia Stonic, while the Kona's 15,127 deliveries almost doubled the combined efforts of the Kia EV3, Niro, and Seltos which together found 8156 buyers.
As vehicles grow in size, so does Kia's advantage. The medium SUV segment favours the pairing of the EV5 and Sportage with 17,269 ales, leading the Hyundai Tucson, Ioniq 5 and Nexo with 14,028 units.
The large SUV segment also leans towards Kia, with the EV6 and Sorento achieving 6696 year-to-date sales compared to the Hyundai Palisade and Santa Fe's 5762 units.
In the upper large SUV segment, time will tell. Kia's EV9 has recorded 213 sales while Hyundai's pricier, new-to-market Ioniq 9 notched up 20 deliveries since it arrived in July.
Hyundai's electric vehicles appear to be costing it an advantage over Kia – despite the pair sharing platforms, drivetrains and battery technologies – a likely outcome of Hyundai bypassing its dealer network with a direct-to-consumer sales model for its Ioniq range, which the brand is now addressing.
Moving into the light commercial vehicle arena, Kia's newly launched Tasman dual-cab utility is making early headway with 1693 sales, while Hyundai's Staria Load van has achieved 1959 sales in a segment dominated by the Toyota HiAce with 6953 delivered YTD.
Hyundai versus Kia overall sales (YTD end of August 2025)*:
*All sales data supplied courtesy of VFACTS.
N.B. Hyundai has sold 185 heavy commercial vehicles year-to-date which were not included in this report.  Read more1st of September 2025  Market Insight: Q5 Australia's favourite AudiAudi says it must maintain premium customer experience to keep Q5 as brand cornerstone25th of August 2025  Market Insight: GWM chalks up 200,000 salesAccelerating sales, consolidation of brands secure GWM’s place in Australian top 10 |
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