Although Korean cars are becoming increasingly popular in major markets, including China, around the world, they have not penetrated the Japanese market and it is only this year that Hyundai Motor is returning to Japan. The company tried in 2001 and stayed for 8 years, pulling out after selling only 15,000 units.

It’s not a big market for imported makes as the total share for all foreign brands is only around 8%. With electrification growing, the Korean carmaker believes it now has products that will appeal more to Japanese consumers. Earlier this year, it launched the IONIQ 5 and hydrogen-fuelled NEXO EV. The latter model can be offered as Japan is steadily building a hydrogen refuelling network around the country.

Hyundai’s return seems to have been met more positively this time as the IONIQ 5 has been picked to be among the Best 11 Cars in the 2022-2023 Japan Car of The Year (JCOTY) program. There are 11 instead of the usual 10 because there was a tie. These are essentially the finalists from a list of nominees that had 48 models this year (the NEXO was included as well). It is probably the first time that Korean model is appearing in a JCOTY list as we can’t remember any other occasion in previous years.