Kia jumps to third on the Australian sales charts for the year

A strong October of sales growth has seen Kia overtake Mitsubishi on the year-to-date sales charts, and catapult into third position overall with two months to run. 

The rapidly growing Kia sold 66,580 vehicles here to the end of October, up 14.5 per cent. That’s behind second-placed Mazda (79,669) and ahead of Mitsubishi (66,505), Kia’s majority shareholder Hyundai (63,392), and Ford (53,298). 

Ten years ago, Kia’s market share in Australia was 2.6 per cent, whereas now it sits at 7.4 per cent – almost tripling its slice of the pie in the meantime.

The Korean brand sits second overall in passenger car sales (28,492 units YTD) trailing only Toyota (31,278). It’s also fifth in the SUV market with 38,088 sales, behind Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Hyundai. 

Impressively enough Kia is the only top six brand without any light commercial vehicles in its range – meaning it only competes in 70 per cent of the total market. If it does find a way to get its hands on a ute like this one, watch out Mazda… 

Kia’s top-seller this year has been the new Sportage medium SUV (15,497 units), ahead of the Cerato small car (11,558). Next are the Seltos (7803) and Stonic (7582) compact SUVs. 

Kia also sits at the top of several model segments including Micro Cars, where its Picanto has a staggering 77.5 per cent segment share. Those who buy Picantos, often P-platers, are great customers because you can build brand loyalty with them over time. 

Kia also sits atop the people-mover market with the dominant Carnival, which has 72.9 per cent segment share as competition dries up. At a lower-volume level the Kia Stinger (2054) dominates the Large Car < $70k segment with 76.4 per cent share. 

On a side note, check out our recent story outlining the progress Kia has made catching up to, and overtaking, Hyundai’s sales in Australia.

Top 10 brands YTD

Kia’s model sales YTD

• Kia Sportage: 15,497
• Kia Cerato: 11,558
• Kia Seltos: 7803
• Kia Stonic: 7582
• Kia Carnival: 6853
• Kia Sorento: 5574
• Kia Picanto: 4135
• Kia Rio: 3892
• Kia Stinger: 2054
• Kia Niro: 1118
• Kia EV6: 514

MORE: Kia’s rapid growth tracked, as it overtakes Hyundai in Australia MORE: Kia launching two electric utes, among 14 new EVs by 2027