Who will win? Kia and Hyundai sales race remains close with more cars to come in 2022

The sales figures between sibling brands Kia and Hyundai are almost neck and neck, with little more than 1000 units separating the two so far this year.

It’s reminiscent of this time last year, when the brands were locked in an even closer sales race that looked almost headed for a 2021 sales tie.

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By the end of 2021, Hyundai had stormed ahead and managed to sell about 5000 more cars than its sister brand.

Hyundai probably has the new Tucson to thank for that, which outdid its Kia equivalent Sportage thoroughly by the end of 2021, selling more than 14,000 to the Sportage’s just under 8000.

Fast forward to the end of August this year, and Kia has stuck its neck out in front, with 52,910 sales so far to Hyundai’s 51,602. A difference of 1308 units. While it’s not quite a horror story for Hyundai (that would be 1408, thanks Stephen King), if Kia manages to get ahead of Hyundai for the whole year it will be the first time ever beating its sibling in a calendar year.

Kia has spent 2022 outperforming Hyundai, and unless incoming models and variants change this it will become the higher volume seller for 2022, likely at the expense of Hyundai given the similarities between their ranges.

For Kia, signs are good. An updated version of its popular Seltos is on the horizon and set to arrive before the end of the year. It is Kia's third-most popular model behind Cerato and Sportage, just ahead of the Stonic light SUV.

A rival to the Hyundai Kona (Hyundai’s third-most popular model behind i30 and Tucson), the Seltos is catching up, with 6267 sales this year so far to the Kona’s 8355. But, in August, Seltos outsold Kona 801 to 783 units.

Over at Hyundai, the new Palisade large SUV is on sale now, but sales haven’t quite picked up in a way that could threaten Kia’s momentum. So far this year Hyundai has only shifted 2891 Palisades, not enough to catch the runaway Sorento at 4304 sales. Even in August alone, Sorento outsold Palisade 801 to 492.

Although the Hyundai Santa Fe also competes with the Sorento and Hyundai has found 2936 homes for the model so far this year. So with the Santa Fe and Palisade combined, Hyundai is ahead in the large-SUV segment.

While it’s set to arrive in 2023, Kia even has the top-spec EV6 GT electric SUV ready in the wings to fight Hyundai’s sportier models, anything N badged for example.

Without a crystal ball, it’s difficult to predict what could happen before the end of the year, but unless Hyundai pulls out a hidden ace, Kia looks to retain its leading position in the 2022 sales race.