Hyundai, Mercedes poised to lose top sales performance in Korea to Kia, BMW

Top domestic and imported automakers Hyundai Motor and Mercedes-Benz may give way to other competitors in sales performance in South Korea this year.

According to industry tracker CarIsYou Data Research Center, Kia Corp. registered 37,371 new vehicles last month, surpassing Hyundai's 35,993 units, including those from the Genesis brand, to become the top domestic carmaker for the first time.

While Kia trails Hyundai in terms of total registered vehicles between January and August, its strong performance, including the Sorento SUV topping sales charts last month, is still noteworthy in the auto industry.

Last month, BMW registered 7,305 units in the imported vehicle market, surpassing Mercedes-Benz's 5,943 units to top the sales charts.

As of last month, Mercedes-Benz had 50,627 registered vehicles and BMW had 50,349 registered vehicles, indicating that the sales gap between the two automakers is narrowing.