Hyundai, Kia set fresh H1 sales record in US, beating H1 2021

South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister company Kia Corp. posted record first-half-year sales in the US this year, amid the growing popularity of electric cars and sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

The two automakers said on Sunday they together shipped 788,946 units to the US from January to June of this year, 16.5% up on-year. The figure excludes sales of Hyundai’s premium brand Genesis, which haven’t yet been announced.

The six-month sales broke the previous record of 785,646 units posted for the first half of 2021.

The stellar results were led by Kia, which achieved its strongest first-half-year sales of 390,433 cars in the US, up 18% from the same period of the last year.

The smaller sibling of Hyundai Motor has broken its all-time monthly sales record in the US for the 11th consecutive month through June of this year. It delivered 70,495 units to the US last month, up 8% on-year.

Kia saw its electric and SUV models’ June shipments to the US soar by 40% and 25% on-year, respectively. Eight vehicle models’ sales grew in June from a year ago – Carnival sales surged by 74%; Seltos increased by 64%; Sportage jumped 37%; while Soul and Forte sales increased by 26% and 20%, respectively.   

Kia will continue its growth momentum in the US by launching the EV9 later this year, its three-row electric SUV, said Kia America Inc. Vice President Eric Watson.

Hyundai Motor’s sales in the US reached 394,613 units from January to June of this year, up 15% on-year. The second-quarter sales amounted to 210,164 units, with a 14% increase from a year ago.

Hyundai Motor shipped 60,931 units to the US in June, up 10% year over year. The auto giant said sales of EV and hybrid cars led the growth.

Its Kona Electric and IONIQ 5 sales respectively increased by 239% and 10% in June on-year. The Santa Fe Hybrid and Elantra Hybrid posted top sales growth with 280% and 227%, respectively, during the same period. The Tucson Plug-in Hybrid and Tucson Hybrid logged 84% and 37% in sales growth, respectively.



Write to Sungsu Bae at baebae@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.