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Hyundai stuck in Kia's rearview mirror in midsize SUV market

Published: 04 Feb. 2026, 14:39 Updated: 04 Feb. 2026, 18:12

Hyundai Santa Fe [HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP]

The fortunes of Korea’s leading midsize SUVs are diverging.

Kia’s Sorento, the top-selling model in the domestic market in 2025, held on to the No. 1 spot again last month, while Hyundai Motor’s Santa Fe has yet to claw its way back into the top 10.

The Sorento sold 8,388 units last month, according to Hyundai Motor and Kia on Tuesday. After topping domestic sales in 2024, the Sorento surpassed 100,000 units in domestic sales in 2025, making it the country’s best-selling model for a second consecutive year.

Delivery wait times for some of the Sorento’s popular trims run about three to five months, according to an industry source.

By contrast, the Santa Fe sold 3,379 units last month. Since November 2025, it has missed the top 10 best-sellers for three straight months. It also trailed Hyundai Motor’s other SUVs, the Palisade with 4,994 units and Tucson 4,269, as well as its sedans Avante 5,244, Sonata 5,143 and Grandeur 5,016.

In October 2023, the sales gap between the Sorento with 8,777 and Santa Fe 8,331 was by a mere 446 units, but by January this year it had widened to 5,009. The annual gap also more than doubled: the Sorento led the Santa Fe by 17,337 units in 2023, but the margin expanded to 42,113 in 2025.

The Santa Fe and Sorento have long been considered “twins” since their launches, as they are built on the same platform and share similar powertrain lineups, including a 2.5-liter (85-ounce) gasoline turbo and a 1.6-liter turbo hybrid.

Kia Sorento [KIA]

But their trajectories began to diverge after Hyundai Motor rolled out a full redesign of the fifth-generation Santa Fe in September 2023.

The fifth-generation Santa Fe adopted a boxy silhouette and incorporated icon-like design elements reinterpreting Hyundai’s “H” badge throughout. The front features H-shaped headlamps linked horizontally, and the rear lamps also reflect the H motif.

The H icon, however, drew harsh reviews from consumers, with some saying it “looks like a bone,” spawning the nickname “Bone-tafe.” Monthly Santa Fe sales, once above 8,000 units, slipped to around 5,000 in 2024. With the industry expecting Hyundai Motor to release an upgraded version of the Santa Fe this year — including a range-extended electric vehicle trim — attention is on whether it can turn sentiment around.

“Consumers say they want new designs, but when a car strays too far from its existing image, many perceive it as unfamiliar or awkward — and the Santa Fe is a case in point,” said Prof. Kwon Yong-joo, a professor of automotive transport design at Kookmin University. “The Sorento, on the other hand, appears to have benefited from a design language that feels familiar because it aligns with Kia’s broader lineup.

“Especially for products like cars that are deeply woven into everyday life, that tendency is even stronger,” Prof. Kwon continued. “Automakers should be cautious about taking short-lived excitement over concept cars at face value when gauging market reaction.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KO SUK-HYUN [[email protected]]