The Morning, a small city car, sold 23,478 units up till last month, outpacing the Spark from GM Korea which sold 16,330 units.

The Spark's sales fell 38.6 percent compared to the same period a year earlier.

Industry officials say while the Morning is clearly in the lead, its sales during the four months also fell 2.2 percent on-year. Kia launched the All New Morning in January, the first redesign of the model in six years, hoping to reclaim the bestseller title stolen by the Spark last year. Officials note that the sales of the new version, however, have not fully met expectations.

GM Korea is marketing the Spark with giveaways like clothes dryers priced at 1.2 million won ($1,059).

For compact sedans, Hyundai's Avante was the clear winner with 27,682 units sold during the period, easily beating out the 3,900 units of GM Korea's Cruze. The tally for the Avante marks an 11.7-percent fall on-year.

The All New Cruze, launched in January after its first full change in nine years, has somewhat picked up from mid-March, selling 1,518 units in April alone. The Avante did better, however, selling 8,265 units during the month.

Hyundai's Sonata maintained its lead status for midsized sedans with its rivals, the SM6 from Renault Samsung and the Malibu from GM Korea, experiencing slowing sales growth. Hyundai sold 25,142 units in the January-April period, compared to 16,227 for the SM6 and 13,309 for the Malibu.

The face-lifted Sonata New Rise, released in March, kept the sales momentum going, industry officials said. Sales of the SM6 dropped 18.5 percent and those of the Malibu fell 21 percent in April, apparently due to the launch of the new Sonata line.

In on-year comparisons, however, Sonata's latest numbers were down 7.7 percent while SM6 and Malibu sales moved up. (Yonhap)