Hyundai Motor breaks out of 3-year slump in China

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. has broken out of its slump in China, with its Chinese joint venture posting its first sales growth in four years in the world’s largest automobile market.

Beijing Hyundai Motor Co., a joint venture between BAIC Motor and Hyundai Motor, recorded a 13% jump in China sales to 123,259 units in the first half of this year from the year previous, according to Beijing Hyundai on Sunday.

It marked the JV’s first gains in China since 2019, when its sales volume inched up 0.5% on-year there.

It is also the first time its first-half China sales grew by double digits in a decade. In 2013, its first-half sales leapt 37% on-year in China.

The sales growth looks encouraging for the South Korean carmaker, especially as its global rivals such as Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. are reporting declining sales in China.

“It is an inspiring result in China, where homegrown brands such as BYD and Chang’an are raising their market share, whereas imported brands are struggling with falling sales,” said an automobile industry source.

Honda and Nissan Motor Co. saw their first-half sales in China fall 22% and 24.4%, respectively. Toyota suffered a 2.8% drop in China sales during the period, while Volkswagen’s sales were estimated to dip one percent.  

The figures are in contrast to an estimated 8.8% rise in new vehicle sales in China over the same period.

RECOVERY FROM CHINA SHOCK

Beijing Hyundai’s first-half sales volume represents just one-fourth of its record sales in 2016. But it may signal Hyundai’s turnaround in the neighboring market.

Hyundai made inroads into China in 2002. But it suffered sluggish sales in the country after they peaked at 1.13 million units in 2016.

Last year, the China JV sold just 256,400 units, with its market share tumbling to the one percent range.

In both 2020 and 2022, its sales plunged by double digits after China restricted imports from South Korea in retaliation for Seoul’s 2016 decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THADD) alongside the US.

Particularly, its 2022 sales in China dwindled 70.4% compared to 2018. That contrasted with 10.8% and 2.2% rises in North America and Europe, respectively, during the period.

Some industry watchers noted that Hyundai failed to keep up with the new trend in the Chinese car market, where premium models have been taking a bigger share than before.

To fight the slump, it sold one of the JV’s five factories in the country in 2021 to lift productivity, while expanding the lineups of large-size models and electric vehicles.

“We expanded our SUV lineups to cater to local consumers and strived to reestablish our brand image,” said a Beijing Hyundai official.

The company is looking to sell another factory in China, while focusing on premium cars, SUVs and high-performance N-brand models, as well as EVs.

To that end, it will reduce its small to mid-sized vehicle lineups to eight models from 13.

Hyundai Motor Chief Executive Chang Jae-hoon said in a new year’s message that 2023 should be the year to normalize its Chinese business.

This year, it is aiming to jack up its China sales by 20.5% to 306,000 units. Still, the target is less than one-third its strongest-ever results of 1.13 million units in 2016.

It is now on track to accelerate its sales growth with the launch of new premium models such as the revamped compact sedan Avante N and Kia Corp.'s all-electric SUV EV5 later this year. EV5 will be Kia's first EV to be marketed there.

Last month, it launched the Mufasa compact crossover SUV, targeting Chinese drivers.

Meanwhile, Hyundai and its sister company Kia posted record first-half-year sales in the US combined, driven by EVs and SUVs.

(Correction: The headline was corrected to 3-year slump)

Write to Nan-Sae Bin and Il-Gue Kim at binthere@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.