Role Reversal: Toyota launches in South Korea to battle Hyundai

Autoblog · Oct 20, 2009

Role Reversal: Toyota launches in South Korea to battle Hyundai

Filed under: Toyota, South Korea

2010 Toyota Camry - Click above for high-res image gallery

In this topsy-turvy economy, Hyundai is making serious headway against its Japanese rivals. While the Korean automaker has surpassed Honda and Nissan, to name just two, Toyota remains in the lead by a wide margin. But that doesn't mean ToMoCo is about to sit around and wait for Hyundai to continue gaining market share. In fact Toyota is taking the fight right to Hyundai's doorstep by launching a range of vehicles in the South Korean market.

Against the whopping 72% share which Hyundai and its Kia subsidiary enjoy in their domestic market, Toyota is bringing over the Camry, Camry Hybrid, Prius and RAV4, joining the luxury offerings from Lexus that have been in South Korea for the past eight years.

At 34.9 million won (the equivalent of $29,900 in American greenbacks), the Camry enters the Korean market at a significantly higher price point than the 21.3-million-won Hyundai Sonata, but with 1500 orders reportedly already placed, Toyota figures it can sell 500 vehicles every month this year before ramping up to 700 per month next year. That's still a far cry from the 12,000+ units Honda sold in South Korea last year, but even an automaker as large as Toyota knows you have to start somewhere.

Gallery: 2010 Toyota Camry

[Source: The Korean Times]Role Reversal: Toyota launches in South Korea to battle Hyundai originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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