Hyundai's new Grandeur full-size sedan instantly grabbed the attention of local motorists after it hit showrooms in South Korea with its monthly sales exceeding the 10,000-unit mark for the third straight month in February. Kia's all new Morning city car also contributed to expanding their market share.

Hyundai and Kia also expect more new versions of key models to help increase their share of the domestic auto market.

On Thursday, Hyundai rolled out the latest version of the Sonata in a desperate bid to bolster sales of its most popular midsize sedan. The Sonata New Rise is a facelift of the seventh-generation Sonata launched in March 2014, but features a better design, performance and safety, according to Hyundai.

In addition, Hyundai plans to launch a small SUV for the first time in June, and Kia will roll out the Stinger, its first high-powered sports sedan, this year.

In contrast, the three underdogs -- GM Korea Co., Renault Samsung Motors Co. and Ssangyong Motor Co. -- are focusing efforts on selling more of their main models that pulled off strong performances last year, according to market watchers.

Driven by the popularity of the midsize sedan Malibu and the Spark city car, the domestic market share of GM Korea rose to 9.9 percent last year from 8.6 percent. But its share dipped to 9.4 percent in January and 8.2 percent in February as sales of the Spark tumbled after the launch of Kia's new Morning.

In a desperate bid to prop up slumping sales, GM Korea, the local unit of US automaker General Motor Co., is offering buyers a cash discount and giveaways.

Renault Samsung, the local unit of French automaker Renault S.A., is struggling to keep up sales momentum of the new SM6 midsize sedan that accounts for nearly half of its domestic shipments. Sales of the SM6, which rolled out in March 2016, reached a monthly average of 5,700 units last year, but the number tumbled to the 4,000-unit range this year.

Ssangyong, the local unit of Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and the smallest carmaker in South Korea, is redoubling efforts to further boosting shipments of its best-selling small SUV Tivoli. Ssangyong sold nearly 57,000 Tivolis last year, which helped the carmaker swing to a profit for the first time in nine years. (Yonhap)