Diesel out, LPG next: South Korea's 1-ton truck fuel cliff.
In November 2023, Hyundai and Kia pulled the diesel Porter and Bongo — the only two domestic one-ton commercial trucks. By the first quarter of 2024, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) took 77.3 percent of new one-ton sales (25,271 units); electric took 12.9 percent (4,218 units); diesel fell from 2,559 units in January to 257 in March. Now the trade press says the electric Porter and Bongo themselves end production around late 2026, replaced by Hyundai's ST1 (sticker price 59.8 million won, vs. 43.95 million for the Porter Electric) and Kia's PV5 PBV platform. New under-3.5-ton crash standards from 2027 force a semi-bonnet design and lift baseline prices again. LPG range tops at about 525 km; EV at 211 to 317 km. The roughly 400,000 one-ton owner-operators who move Korea's parcels, food vans and small cargo are watching three platform shifts inside four years.
01The pain
Twenty-five thousand. That is how many liquefied petroleum gas one-ton trucks Hyundai and Kia sold in South Korea in the first quarter of 2024 — 77.3 percent of every new one-ton vehicle.1 The diesel Porter and Bongo, the two trucks that move parcel couriers, food vendors and small-cargo owner-operators, were pulled in November 2023 for a new turbocharged LPG direct-injection engine.4 Diesel monthly sales fell from 2,559 units in January 2024 to 257 by March.1
Then the next cliff appeared. Trade-press reporting from mid-2024 says the electric Porter and Bongo will themselves end production around late 2026, replaced by Hyundai's chassis-cab ST1 (sticker price 59.8 million won, against 43.95 million for the Porter Electric) and Kia's PBV platform — PV5 first, then PV1 and PV7.2 New under-3.5-ton crash standards take effect in 2027 and force a semi-bonnet design, which lifts baseline prices a second time. A small operator who just bought an LPG Porter in 2024 is now staring at a stranded asset.
Range is the second hit. LPG tanks deliver up to 525 km per fill; EV models 211 to 317 km.1 Long-haul couriers told the press they avoid LPG because charging stations are sparse and shrinking by region. Used Porter2 diesel sales fell 34 percent year-on-year in January and February 2025 as buyers refused the LPG replacement and chased a vanishing diesel pool.3
"Used Porter2 diesel sales fell 34 percent year-on-year as buyers refused the LPG replacement and chased a vanishing diesel pool."
— South Korea · Logistics owner-operator forum threadsFurther reading
- 1 CVINFO (June 2024) — Q1 2024 one-ton split: LPG 25,271 units (77.3%), EV 4,218 (12.9%), diesel 3,200 (9.8%); diesel monthly volume from 2,559 in January to 384 in February to 257 in March; LPG up to 525 km per fill, EV 211 to 317 km per charge: cvinfo.com
- 2 CVINFO (June 2024) — electric Porter and Bongo expected to end production around late 2026 under 2027 under-3.5-ton crash standards; ST1 sticker 59.8 million won vs. Porter Electric 43.95 million; Kia PBV roadmap PV5 (2025), then PV1 and PV7: cvinfo.com
- 3 News1 (March 2025) — Porter2 diesel used-market shortage; sales down 34% year-on-year in January-February 2025; LPG models can fill only about 80% of the diesel gap; consumers explicitly avoiding LPG: news1.kr
- 4 AutoTribune (May 2023) — Porter and Bongo simultaneous diesel-to-LPG transition with new third-generation T-LPDi (turbocharged LPG direct-injection) engine; 21-year LPG return for Porter; Air Management Area Act of April 2023 restricting diesel commercial use: autotribune.co.kr
- 5 NewAutoPost — long-distance LPG-vs-EV operator pain coverage was attempted; the publisher returned HTTP 403 on fetch, so the citation is dropped from the running set. The CVINFO and News1 references above carry the same range-and-station shortage finding.
Operators discussing this
These are real Korean operators (and adjacent commenters) talking about this pain in their own words. They are the reason this page exists.
-
«화주부터 처벌해야 저렇게 시킬 엄두를 못낸다»
"You'd have to punish the shipper first — only then would they not even dare to demand it like that."
포터봉고 외 1톤 트럭 대체자가 없는 이유 ㄷㄷㄷㄷjpg · Ruliweb forum-board — 71 visible comments and roughly 35 distinct posters on the 2025-04-15 thread, discussing Porter and Bongo overload economics, the structural shipper-driver imbalance, and the absence of a domestic one-ton replacement; the same Ruliweb 유머 게시판 board carries a multi-year arc on the platform — thread #67550238 (Bongo public-auction discussion, 2024), #66441248 (one-ton truck rental discussion), #71578052 (new-model photos, July 2025) and #70281792 (April 2025 overload-and-alternatives) — recurrence on the one-ton-truck operator pain class spans more than 18 months.
02Who solves this today
Used-vehicle marketplaces and instant-appraisal services that publicly self-market in Korea and carry one-ton commercial trucks (Porter, Bongo and successors) — the toolkit an owner-operator reaches for when the choice is sell now, swap fuel type or hold. Each homepage was checked live on the date of writing. Inclusion is not endorsement.
Listed providers publicly self-market in one of the wedges named above. Inclusion is not endorsement. Considered and dropped (each WebFetched on the date of writing): sktrack.co.kr — ECONNREFUSED; signet-ev.com — ECONNREFUSED; truckno1.co.kr — ECONNREFUSED; cargo24.co.kr — ECONNREFUSED; cardoc.co.kr — repair-marketplace tagline only ("내 차 수리 고민의 순간!"), no truck-appraisal or commercial-fleet self-claim captured; lotterentacar.net — homepage returned no inspectable content; sk-rent.com — name collision (Polish construction-equipment rental, not the Korean SK rental brand); wadiz.kr — no truck-financing campaigns visible on inspection; hyundaicapital.com — no operator-side commercial-vehicle financing self-claim captured on the public homepage; charzin.com — empty response; chaevi.com and evar.co.kr are already cataloged on the South Korea gas-station decommissioning page (energy/) for an EV-charging-host wedge, and their public homepages do not carry an explicit one-ton-truck-fleet self-claim, so they are not duplicated here; the named press outlets (CVINFO, News1, AutoTribune, NewAutoPost) and Hyundai Motor / Kia themselves are sources or causes, not solution providers.
Report a mistake — or suggest a new solution
Spot a wrong number, dead source link, missing aspect, broken translation? Or know a vendor we should list as a solution? Tell us. The Director re-checks every report and either updates the page or writes back with a reason.
Got it — thank you.
The Director will look at your report on the next research cycle. If you left an email you'll hear back when we either update the page or decide it's not actionable (with a one-paragraph reason).
Listed companies — manage your entry. If you are one of the providers above and anything here is wrong, missing, or out of date — or you'd rather not be listed — write to us. Removal within 24 hours; corrections within 7 business days. We do not contact listed companies first; we publish what your own public marketing claims and respond when you reach out. Email contact@aikraft.com.