Hyundai, Kia outperform competitors in US in Q1

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., automaking units of Hyundai Motor Group, logged a smaller decline in US car sales than their global competitors in the first quarter thanks to the growing popularity of their eco-friendly vehicles and the premium Genesis models.

Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 322,593 vehicles in the US, the world’s second-largest automobile market, during the January-March period, down 3.7% from a year earlier, according to industry sources on Sunday.

That compared with an average 16.1% decline in sales volume of major 10 automakers except for ones that have yet to release the first-quarter performance, amid the ongoing automotive chip shortage. Toyota Motor Corp.’s US sales fell 14.7% on-year, while Honda Motor Co.’s sales dropped 23.2%. Sales of General Motor Co. and Stellantis NV also fell 20.4% and 13.6%, respectively.

Hyundai and Kia together stayed at the No. 5 automaker in the US with the performance, following Toyota, GM, Ford and Stellantis after beating Japanese rival Honda last year, for the first time in its 35 years of business there.

“We focused on meeting the tremendous consumer demand despite ongoing inventory challenges," said Randy Parker, senior vice president, national sales, Hyundai Motor America, in a statement. "We outperformed the industry in Q1 and substantially increased our retail market share."

EV, GENESIS

Sales of Hyundai and Kia’s eco-friendly models in the US about tripled in the first quarter from a year earlier. South Korea’s two largest automakers sold 28,449 hybrid cars, 15,724 electric vehicles and 166 hydrogen fuel cell models. Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 and Kia’s EV6, the conglomerate’s two latest electric vehicles built on the group’s proprietary Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP), sold 6,244 units and 5,281 units, respectively, leading their total EV sales that surged 5.2 times on-year.

Hyundai’s premium Genesis models logged record sales for the first quarter, rising 42.6% to 11,723 units, boosted by sport utility vehicles the GV70 and the GV80. Hyundai sold 4,114 GV70s and 3,259 GV80s.

Hyundai is set to produce the Electrified GV70 at its US factory in Montgomery, Alabama, around the end of this year in a move to expand its market share in the country’s premium EV market.

Surging gasoline prices are expected to increase market shares of eco-friendly car makers – Hyundai, Kia, Tesla Inc. and Toyota, industry sources said.

Toyota maintained the top position in the US with a 15.6% market share during the first quarter thanks to the popularity of its hybrid models, according to US research firm Cox Automotive Inc. Tesla raised its share by 2.2 percentage points, the largest growth in the industry, to 4%. The combined market share of Hyundai and Kia was estimated to have risen to 9.7% from 8.5%.

Growing market shares of Tesla, as well as Hyundai and Kia, indicate increasing US consumer interest in EVs amid higher gasoline prices, industry consultant Edmunds said.

Write to Il-Gue Kim at black0419@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.