Hyundai's accumulated production hits 100 mn unit milestone

Hyundai Motor has achieved the 100 million-unit milestone for its accumulated production 57 years after its inception, led by the Avante compact sedan, the Accent subcompact and sports utility vehicles, the company said on Monday.

An IONIQ 5, Hyundai’s first all-electric crossover, became its 100,000,001th vehicle to roll and was delivered to a customer in his 20s who chose the EV as his first car.

In 1968, one year after its foundation, the largest carmaker in South Korea assembled its first vehicle model Cortina in cooperation with Ford Motor Co. in the Ulsan plant, its main manufacturing base.

Its most-sold model is Avante (15.37 million units) as of August this year, followed the Accent subcompact (10.25 million units) and the Sonata midsize sedan (9.48 million units), the Tucson compact SUV (9.36 million units) and the Santa Fe midsize SUV (5.95 million units). 

In 1975, it began the mass production of its first independent model, the Pony sedan. It became South Korea’s first passenger vehicle to be exported and was shipped to Ecuador and other countries.

In 1986, Hyundai reached the 1 million-unit milestone for accumulated production worldwide and 10 million units in 1996.

Since then, it has established a global production network spanning Turkey to India, Alabama in the US, the Czech Republic, Brazil and Indonesia. In 2013, its cumulative output exceeded 50 million units worldwide.

Additionally, it is building new production facilities in the US state of Georgia and Pune in India, as well as an EV-dedicated plant in Ulsan, South Korea.

Its next chapter of growth came with its premium brand Genesis launched in 2015 and the N brand introduced 2016 for high-performance cars.

Its proprietary electric vehicle production platform E-GMP accelerated its foray into overseas markets, including emerging markets such as Indonesia and India.

Hyundai is now gearing up its push into hybrid car and autonomous vehicle markets, as well as into the software-defined vehicle (SDV) segment.

In 2023, Hyundai Motor and its sibling Kia Corp., South Korea’s two largest automakers, became the country’s highest earners, buoyed by robust sales of pricey cars under the Genesis brand, sport utility vehicles and eco-friendly cars.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.