Doing Well in US
As Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. recorded the highest sales figures for November,the first timr ever in the U.S. market, their market shares returned to some 8 percent in three months.
According to industry sources on Dec. 2, the two South Korean auto giants sold a combined 105,560 units in the U.S. last month. Hyundai Motor sold 60,007 cars in the U.S., up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, while Kia Motors’ sales grew 1.4 percent on-year to 45,553 units. Their latest sales figures were the best for November ever in the U.S. market.
Hyundai Motor was the only automaker in the U.S. market that showed the sales growth of more than 10 percent on-year. Sales of the top five companies slightly increased or rather decreased. Sales of GM grew 1.5 percent from a year ago last month, while Ford, Toyota and Chrysler showed an increase of 0.3 percent, 3.4 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. In addition, sales of Honda dipped 5.2 percent, while that of Volkswagen dropped as much as 15.3 percent due to its diesel emissions scandal.
With strong sales, the share of Hyundai-Kia Motors rose rapidly in the U.S. market. The combined market share of the two companies increased from 7.6 percent in November last year to 8.2 percent last month.
Hyundai Motor’s sales were driven by its best sellers Sonata and Elantra. Sonata and Elantra sold 16,732 and 16,436 units, respectively.
The two automakers sold a total of 1.27 million units in the U.S. from January to November this year, running behind Nissan which sold 1.35 million units. As Hyundai and Kia Motors are expected to sell more than 100,000 units this month, their annual sales will exceed 13.5 million units with ease. Their sales in the U.S. market last year stood at 1.31 million units in total.