Renault Korea Tops Domestic Mass-Market Brands with 79% Purchase Realization Rate, ConsumerInsight Finds

SEOUL, South Korea - May 29, 2026 - ConsumerInsight today released the fourth report in its `The Say-Do Gap` series, examining brand purchase realization rates among domestic mass-market car intenders. The central finding: 73% of consumers who planned to buy a domestic mass-market brand within one year ultimately purchased a vehicle from their originally intended brand, a rate that significantly surpasses the 50% realization rate observed among major premium-brand intenders. Renault Korea posted the highest realization rate of the three major mass-market brands, at 79%, edging out Hyundai (76%) and Kia (75%), the two dominant players in Korea`s mass-market segment.

This analysis is based on 1,127 respondents - drawn from 31,852 continuous participants in ConsumerInsight`s 2024-2025 Annual Automobile Syndicated Study - who stated in 2024 that they planned to buy a new car within one year and completed that purchase. Realization rates and attrition paths were examined for the three major domestic mass-market brands with a minimum sample size of 30: Hyundai, Kia and Renault Korea. GM Korea and KG Mobility (KGM) were excluded from the brand comparison due to insufficient sample size.

Among major domestic mass-market brands, Renault Korea achieved the highest realization rate at 79% [Table]. This means four in five consumers who planned to buy a Renault Korea vehicle followed through without switching brands, a rate that also modestly outpaces those of Hyundai (76%) and Kia (75%), the two brands that dominate Korea`s mass-market segment.

Renault Korea`s high realization rate reflects strong, target-driven purchasing behavior and support from a loyal enthusiast base, powered chiefly by its core model, the `Grand Koleos`. Favorable word of mouth about the model`s product quality and value for money helped convert intenders into actual buyers, keeping attrition to a minimum. Whether the brand can introduce a successor model capable of sustaining that momentum remains an open question.

Hyundai and Kia, the two brands that lead Korea`s domestic auto market, posted solid realization rates of 76% and 75% respectively, underscoring their deep base of core demand as mass-market brands. Notably, the two brands showed an active pattern of cross-brand movement: the leading alternative for Hyundai intenders was Kia (14%), while the leading alternative for Kia intenders was, in turn, Hyundai (13%). This suggests that many consumers who deviated from their original plan chose their `sister brand` as the primary substitute, in effect trading customers between the two.

In total, 90% of Hyundai intenders and 88% of Kia intenders ended up purchasing a vehicle from within Hyundai Motor Group, with attrition outside the group limited to about 10% - an unusually high level of brand-group loyalty. After the sister brand, Renault Korea drew the next-largest share of switching intenders: 6% of Kia intenders and 3% of Hyundai intenders moved to Renault Korea, pointing to a distinct appeal for Renault Korea among Korea`s three mass-market brand groups.

By contrast, movement toward Genesis, the group`s premium brand, was minimal. This points to a duality in the Genesis brand: it can be read either as a successful `independent premium brand` that mass-market intenders find difficult to reach, or as a brand that has yet to become the object of consumers` aspirations to trade up.

Consumers of domestic mass-market cars showed a clear tendency to follow through on their initial brand choice. Including GM Korea and KGM, the average realization rate across the five domestic mass-market brands, 73%, far exceeded the 50% average realization rate for the three major premium brands (Genesis, BMW and Mercedes-Benz). In other words, `The Say-Do Gap` phenomenon was relatively less pronounced in the mass-market segment than in the premium segment - a pattern ConsumerInsight attributed to the fact that the value mass-market brands offer, such as cost-effectiveness and practicality, aligns more closely with consumers` real-world budgets and needs, leaving less room for attrition.

Renault Korea leads on realization rate, but its limitations are clear. The brand`s strength effectively rests on a single model, the Grand Koleos, and it has yet to break the dominant position of Hyundai Motor Group, where a powerful oligopoly effect - driven by active cross-brand movement among its own mass-market brands - remains firmly in place. That one well-made model is performing so strongly deserves credit, but that success could prove no more than a `temporary effect` when measured against the group`s far broader model lineup and brand power.