[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor’s subcompact car Solaris topped the Russian market in the first half of the year, industry data showed on July 13.

Called Hyundai Accent in Korea, Solaris was designed for the Russian market and launched in in 2011.

According to industry data, 45,930 units of the Solaris were sold in Russia during the first six months of the year to become Russia’s best-selling vehicle. 


The Solaris sales figure is about 2,000 higher than that of the Lada Granta, the long-time favorite in the Russian market. During the same period, 43,967 units of the Lada Granta were sold in Russia.

The third place was taken by Kia Motors’ subcompact Rio, which is sold as the Pride in Korea.

The combined first half sales of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors came in at 134,100 units, giving the Korean automakers 20 percent market share.

Compared to the same period last year, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors’ market share increased 0.1 percentage point.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)